Cult Of The Groundhog

Today was Groundhog Day! Punxsutawney Phil, the world's most famous climate predicting rodent, states that we will have 6 more weeks of winter. I wouldn't say that's a bad thing, since we've been having a very mild winter in NY so far, don't ya' think?

I did a little research and watched this video from Netscape.com - the fat little hairy guy in the picture is named after the town in Pennsylvania where they perform the ceremony, and they've been doing it since 1886 (hopefully with more than one groundhog by now). The slightly larger guy in the top hat is a member of the "Inner Circle," a disturbingly-sounding cult-like name for a group of well-dressed, older gentlemen who have dedicated a good portion of their public life to running this ceremony once a year and taking care of the idolised ball of fur. If you visit Groundhog.org, you can see to 20+ members of the Inner Circle, and can wonder like me, why it takes so many men to feed one groundhog.