GROUNDHOG TALE

Every February 2nd, residents of the United States turn their attention to the small town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. An old diary from 1841 shows that German Immigrants brought the weather prediction tradition to Pennsylvania: "Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was "Candle-Mass" Day, the Day on which the Groundhog peeps out of his Winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another 6 weeks nap, but if the Day be cloudy he remains out, as the Weather is to be moderate."
The Groundhog was chosen because of its abundance and unusual popularity at the time. In the 1880s Groundhog was the cuisine of choice at the Punxsutawney Elks Lodge. Devotees later formed the Groundhog Club, which hosted both the annual Groundhog Day ceremony and a Summertime Groundhog Hunt followed by a picnic featuring a variety of Groundhog Dishes and a Groundhog Punch as an appetizer made of a combination of Vodka, Milk, Eggs, Orange Juice, and "other ingredients."
A city editor of the local newspaper "The Punxsutawney Spirit Newspaper," inspired by a group of local Groundhog Hunters, declared February the 2nd as an America's official forecasting Groundhog Day in 1887. Following the release of the 1993 film "Groundhog Day,"crowds numbering as high as 30,000 have visited Gobbler's Knob, a very Tiny Hill in Punxsutawney where the ceremony takes place.
Ancient inhabitants celebrated a Holiday on February 2nd, as a way to mark the Midpoint between the Solstice and the Equinox, which was considered the real Beginning of Spring.
A very old verse shows, a Snake helped predict what the Seasons would bring: "the Serpent will come from the pit on the Brown Day of Bride, though there should be 3 feet of Snow on the Surface of the Ground.
Early Christians celebrated a Religious Festival called "Presentation of the Lord"(Candle-Mass), on February 2nd, commemorating the occasion when the Virgin Mary, in obedience to Jewish Law, went to the Temple in Jerusalem both to be purified 40 Days after the Birth of her Son and to present Jesus to God as his Firstborn (Luke 22). In the Greek Church it is called "Hipapante" (Meeting).
The earliest reference to the Festival is from Jerusalem, where in the late 4th century the Western pilgrim Etheria, a Spanish nun that attended its celebration on February 14, forty days after Epiphany (then celebrated as Christ's birthday), and wrote of it in the 'Peregrinatio Etheriae,' an anonymous and incomplete account about religious life and the observances of the Church in the localities visited, which included the chief Holy Places of the Old and New Testaments in Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. Also it contain a detailed description of the daily and annual liturgical activities in Jerusalem.
In 542 Justinian I (original name Petrus Sabbatius born 483, Tauresium, Dardania, near modern Skopje, Macedonia, and died November 14, 565, Constantinopla, now Istanbul, Turkey), noted for his administrative reorganization of the Imperial Government and for his sponsorship of a codification of Laws known as the Codex Justinianus (534), decreed that Festival should be moved back to February 2 (40 days after Christmas). The name "Candle-Mass" developed, after the middle of the 5th century, in which the Festival with lighted candles become popular. In the Western Church, Pope Sergius I (687-701) instituted the Festival in Rome. In the East it is primarily a Festival of Christ; in the West it was primarily a celebration of the Virgin Mary until the Calendar Reform of 1969.
As a traditional song reveals, they used the Festival as a weather prediction, whether Winter would stay or go - much like American's use the Groundhog: "If "Candle-Mass" be Fair and Bright, come, Winter, have another Flight; If "Candle-Mass" bring Clouds and Rain, go Winter, and come not again.

THE SERPENT AND THE EAGLE.

An Eagle swooped down upon a Serpent and seized it in his talon with the intention of carrying it off and devouring it.
The Eagle did not take in consideration the quick movements of the Serpent. The Serpent reacted in a very quick manner. It was so fast that the Eagle seemed to be just in a slow motion. In a moment the Serpent had its coils rounded over the Eagle, ensuing a life-and-death struggle between the two.
A countryman, who was witnessing the whole encounter, came to provide assistance to the Eagle. He succeeded in freeing the Eagle from the coils of the Serpent and enabled the Eagle to escape the life-and-death confrontation.
The Serpent, then, wanted the countryman dead. In order to achieve his purpose, the Serpent spat some of his poison into the man's drinking-horn.
Heated with his exertions, the countryman was about to slake his thirst with a draught from the horn. Then , the Eagle, who watched what the Serpent did to the man's horn, knocked it out of his hand, and the whole content of the horn was spilled upon the ground.

MORAL LESSON : ONE GOOD TURN DESERVES ANOTHER.