At 7:00am on Sunday, February 2, Malverne Mel and Holtsville Hal will once again be roused from their long winter’s nap to tell the tale. While all attentions will later be focused on the Super Bowl clash of the Seahawks and Broncos, the morning stage belongs to the groundhogs. To refresh memories, these two clashed in 2012 with opposing weather predictions.
In both counties, Mel and Hal will be rudely awakened and extricated from their cozy slumber by a group of presiding officials clad in long coats and top hats to face their captive audiences. The Groundhog Day event is a reenactment of a pagan ritual that dates back to the Pennsylvania Dutch settlers. The date of February 2 is the midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. The settlers fervently believed that if the groundhog saw his shadow, this was the foretelling of six more weeks of winter hardship. If, on the other hand, the groundhog did not see his shadow, this somehow translated into an early spring.
Suffolk County residents can attend Hal’s appearance at his home in Brookhaven Town, at the Holtsville Ecology Center. In Nassau County, Malverne Mel will be holding court at the gazebo on Church Street in Malverne. As Mel and Hal gaze upon their loyal subjects through groggy eyes, we all await their predictions. Will we relegate our snow shovels to the back of the shed, or will we call in an order for another fuel oil delivery? Luckily, the groundhogs are so darn cute that few will hold a grudge, no matter what the outcome – unless the Seahawks and Broncos are postponed from their center stage because the extended winter weather promptly dumps two feet of snow over the MetLife stadium!