VIEW FROM THE PEW
“I don’t get this business about the groundhog; is it sacred or what?” I got that somewhat sarcastic comment from an island-born acquaintance who delights in challenging me to answer for all cultural quirks, puzzling rituals and inexplicable superstitions of the entire population of the entire continental USA.
“And yet you have that piggy statue on your desk, is it sacred or what?” was my first instinctive reaction to match sass with sass.
As it turns out, unwinding the myths behind the Feb. 2 observance of Groundhog Day and that other species of hog, which gets star billing for Chinese New Year 2019 brings us to the same basic human need for hope and happiness. And the myths aren’t just about the world of nature; there are threads of human spiritual belief entangled amid them.
About the groundhog, also known as a woodchuck: it’s a rodent, not one of God’s most fabulous creatures. I’ve seen them and it’s wise to watch their antics from afar. Like the squirrel, another rodent with great public relations value as cute, they are not inclined to be petted or cuddled.
So, why care if the little beast sees its shadow on Feb. 2, is scared and goes back into its burrow to hibernate for six more weeks? A human resident of the cold climate where these critters live is just trying to endure the polar weather and longs for spring. We hope Feb. 2 is a dark day with no shadow, just like we hope that “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.” We lure ourselves with myths that a chilly beginning will surely mean a warm ending to each month. There is a hilariously serious note in the Wikipedia entry on the subject, asserting that there is “no consistent correlation” between a rodent seeing its shadow and “subsequent arrival time of spring-like weather.” Considering climate change and Hawaii’s chilly winter, we might want to look at starting a mongoose tradition.
About the Feb. 2 tradition: it was brought to America by German immigrants and has been adapted into an excuse for parties, groundhog clubs, etc. Despite that town in Pennsylvania with a crazy name that gets all the media attention, I know people disturb groundhogs for meteorological purposes in many locations on that date. But Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, is the “groundhog capital of the world.”
Those old Germans put a light-hearted twist to the Christian celebration of Candlemas Day, a medieval holy day which is now on liturgical calendars as the feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the temple. People believed that the weather on Candlemas could mystically predict weather for the rest of the winter, linked to the fact that Feb. 2 is halfway between the winter solstice, shortest day of the year, and the spring equinox.
People put lighted candles in their windows on Candlemas night, adapting an ancient pagan practice of lighting candles to drive away evil spirits in dark winter nights.
Feast of St. Blaise
In my childhood, we went to church on Candlemas and again on Feb. 3, the feast of St. Blaise. That day, we would line up for the priest to lay a cross of two candles beside each person’s throat and pray that we be protected against ailments of the throat. The martyr had miraculously cured someone so afflicted in the fourth century. And it struck a chord in a wintry climate which was marked with sniffles, coughs and sneezes.
Since St. Blaise is not only the patron saint for people suffering from throat ailments, but also for veterinarians and wild animals, that brings us back to that other beast.
Although chubby, cute, pink piggy models abound this month, my friend’s New Year decoration is a more manly, threateningly bellicose wild boar totem.
This season is one of the favorites among island residents who love to embrace each other’s cultural celebrations, especially when it comes to eating. It’s standing room only in Chinese restaurants, and the animal star of the zodiac is also the featured ingredient in many a delicious dish. It’s exciting to invite the lion dancers into the office or business with drums pounding and invest a little cash for the prospect of good luck. Yay, another good dose of firecracker noise.
The Lunar New Year celebration by Asian cultures focuses on the subject of horoscopes. Are you born in the Year of the Boar? Expect a promotion or more powerful position, and the “energy will be high for creativity. You are deep and mysterious, let your inner spirituality and spontaneity unfold. Romance awaits …” It must be true, I read it in the newspaper. In general it has the “potential for a year of inner reflection and spirituality that can lead to growth and understanding,” according to the predictions of astrology consultant Alan S.F. Lum featured in a colorful four-page zodiac display in the Feb. 3 Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
Even without my own personal connection to the sign of the year, I’m told there’s a lot to look forward to, a windfall of wealth, a bigger circle of friends. Wow, imagine that. I think my longstanding aversion to horoscope hocus pocus may be based on not liking to be connected to unpleasant animals. A plodding ox! Or in the western horoscope, a smelly ill-tempered goat! Pshaw!
Not to offend the folks in the Chinese Catholic Club, but these zodiac animals are not under the blessing of St. Blaise … or the church.
If we’re paying attention to Catholic teaching, we should just turn away from horoscopes and zodiac signs and future predictions based on how we happened to be born under some cosmic animal’s control or the position of the stars and planets.
Catholic preachers and teachers scolded and railed against such misguided beliefs in past centuries, but we live in an age inundated with so much information, theoretically much more sophisticated in filtering out fake from real, that it’s not even likely to stimulate a homily.
The “Catechism of the Catholic Church,” however, tells us that we are in danger of breaking the First Commandment, “you shall have no other gods before me,” if we dabble in the zodiac. “All forms of divination are to be rejected … Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear we owe to God alone.”
There’s a lot more on the subject of superstition and such if you just search out catechism sections 2110 to 2117. It’s stern stuff, so I sought out a softer interpretation. Retired Bishop Donald Montrose wrote a pastoral letter about “spiritual warfare,” advising “even if you say you do not believe in horoscopes, and only read your own for fun, you should abandon this practice. The daily horoscope can easily influence us from time to time. It is a way in which we open ourselves to the occult. If you want to live in the Kingdom of God, renounce horoscopes and all other means of fortune telling.”
An article on the “U.S. Catholic” magazine webpage “Should Catholics consult their horoscopes?” lifts the load of guilt a bit by pointing out that early Christian theologians and leaders used astrology for centuries at the same time as many were condemning the beliefs rooted in pagan religions. “By the 18th Century, measurements of the stars’ movements improved due to advances in optics and mathematics. These scientific improvements … ultimately put an end to any belief that stars could be used to better understand the future,” wrote Kathleen Manning in the July 2015 article. “Thus, it wasn’t church condemnation that doomed horoscopes to be a novelty in the back pages of a newspaper. It was better science.”
Horoscopes as entertainment
More than a century ago, many newspapers in Europe and America started carrying a horoscope as entertainment, tucked in between puzzles and comics. Aside from the special one recently cast by Mr. Lum, the horoscope usually comes as a canned package, churned out by an author far far away writing months in advance, mostly the work of hacks not scholars. If you worked for a paper, you probably heard an in-house legend about that boilerplate stuff getting scrambled, being run on the wrong day, ho-ho-ho for the poor fool who believed.
Psychologists have been analyzing what makes people fall for that stuff. Basically it’s found to be a search for self-fulfilling prophecy, people wanting cheerleaders to keep their hopes up. Studies found that when advice is positive but not unbelievable, a realistic enough mix of good and not so good prospects, and written in vague terms, people will embrace it as their own. “If you buy into the system and the belief, it’s you that’s kind of making the reading appear more specific than it actually is,” said Dr. Chris French, a London psychologist.
So we get our daily dose of non-scientific superstition taking up space in a publication supposedly dedicated to real news. Hawaii’s daily newspaper has virtually given up coverage of religions and their adherents, faith-based events and projects. Rarely does any aspect of religious life get attention in any local media. It’s usually presented in an alternate focus: the business angle when a Christian food kitchen for the poor segued into a profit-making candy factory, the food page recipes for potato pancakes which are a Jewish holiday tradition, and of course, churches and clergy involved in crimes and tragedies. Aside from any excuses about dwindling staff or public interest, the reason the local paper and its cohorts around the country don’t cover religion is that there’s no money in it. Churches don’t pay for advertising which sustains the news business, but advertisers are willing to invest in the sports, feature, business and news pages, including that big Japan news weekly section underwritten by a travel organization.
I am a news reader, offset by a daily dip into “The Word Among Us” meditations on the liturgy. The reflection on this day I’m writing goes, in part: “Don’t ever underestimate God’s desire — or his ability —to renew what feels old and stale in your life. He is sending forth his Spirit to create new life and new possibilities. Every winter is temporary, even spiritual winters. In his perfect timing, you will see spring bursting forth in all its glory.”
That, I believe.
