• GROUNDHOG ORACLES AND THEIR FOREBEARS

    Author(s):
    Daniel Capper (see profile)
    Date:
    2016
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    animal veneration, Groundhog Day, mourning, oracles, relationships with nature
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6W57K
    Abstract:
    Groundhog Day animal weather forecasting ceremonies continue to proliferate around the United States despite a lack of public confidence in the oracles. This essay probes religio-historical and original ethnographic perspectives to offer a psychological argument for why these ceremonies exist. Employing Paul Shepard’s notion of a felt loss of sacred, intimate relationships with nonhuman nature, as well as Peter Homans’ concept of the monument that enables mourning, this essay argues that groundhog oracles serve as monuments that allow humans experientially to attempt to heal lost sacred relationships with animals like weather forecasting bears, hedgehogs, and badgers.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    10.1111/zygo.12247
    Publisher:
    Wiley-Blackwell
    Pub. Date:
    2016-5-6
    Journal:
    Zygon®
    Volume:
    51
    Issue:
    2
    Page Range:
    257 - 276
    ISSN:
    0591-2385
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    5 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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