"support for split-screen. Available only on Uplay, the ""History Collection"" also includes re-releases of ""The Settlers"", ""The Settlers III"", ""The Settlers IV"", """", """", and """". The Settlers II The Settlers II (), originally released as The Settlers II: Veni, Vidi, Vici, is a city-building game with real-time strategy elements, developed and published by Blue Byte Software. Released in Germany for MS-DOS in April 1996, and in the United Kingdom and North America in August, it is the second game in ""The Settlers"" series, following ""The Settlers"" (1993). In December, Blue Byte released an expansion, ""The Settlers II Mission CD"","
"and Canada have also adopted the event. The 1993 film ""Groundhog Day"" helped boost recognition of the custom, and the celebration has spread even further afield. In 2009, Quebec began to mark the day (Canadian French: ""Jour de la Marmotte"") with its own groundhog. The observance of Groundhog Day in the United States first occurred in German communities in Pennsylvania, according to known records. The earliest mention of Groundhog Day is a February 2, 1840 entry in the diary of James L. Morris of Morgantown, Pennsylvania, in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, according to the book on the subject by Don Yoder."
"Groundhog Day Groundhog Day (Pennsylvania German: ""Grund'sau dåk"", ""Grundsaudaag"", ""Grundsow Dawg"", ""Murmeltiertag""; Nova Scotia: Daks Day) is a popular tradition celebrated in the United States and Canada on February 2. It derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog (Deitsch: ""Grundsau"", ""Grunddax"", ""Dax"") emerging from its burrow on this day sees a shadow due to clear weather, it will retreat to its den and winter will persist for six more weeks, and if it does not see its shadow because of cloudiness, spring will arrive early. While the tradition remains popular in modern times, studies have found no"
"Day, the earliest American reference to which can be found at the Pennsylvania Dutch Folklore Center at Franklin and Marshall College. The reference implies that Groundhog Day may have come from a German-American Candlemas tradition: In France and Belgium, Candlemas () is celebrated with crêpes. In Italy, traditionally, it () is considered the last cold day of winter. Tenerife (Spain), Is the day of the Virgin of Candelaria (Saint Patron of the Canary Islands). 2 February. In Southern and Central Mexico, and Guatemala City, Candlemas () is celebrated with tamales. Tradition indicates that on 5 January, the night before Three"
"consistent correlation between a groundhog seeing its shadow or not and the subsequent arrival time of spring-like weather. The weather lore was brought from German-speaking areas where the badger (German: ""dachs"") is the forecasting animal. This appears to be an enhanced version of the lore that clear weather on Candlemas forebodes a prolonged winter. The Groundhog Day ceremony held at Punxsutawney in western Pennsylvania, centering around a semi-mythical groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil, has become the most attended. ""Grundsow Lodges"" in Pennsylvania Dutch Country in the southeast part of the state celebrate them as well. Other cities in the United States"
"with the harasser. Jihlava – The city's German name, Iglau, is derived from the German word for hedgehog, Igel, hence the hedgehog on the coat of arms. The common American holiday Groundhog Day originated in Ancient Rome as Hedgehog Day and is still celebrated as such through much of the world. There are no native hedgehogs in the United States, so the early settlers chose the groundhog as a substitute. Hedgehogs remain largely unseen in modern-day American culture. On a number of occasions British educational programs have been revoiced to refer to hedgehogs as porcupines (at least one of such"
"yearly February 2 Groundhog Day celebration has given the groundhog recognition and popularity. The most popularly known of these groundhogs are Punxsutawney Phil, Wiarton Willie, Jimmy the Groundhog, Dunkirk Dave, and Staten Island Chuck kept as part of Groundhog Day festivities in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania;, Wiarton, Ontario; Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, Dunkirk, New York, and Staten Island respectively. The 1993 comedy film ""Groundhog Day"" references several events related to Groundhog Day, and portrays both Punxsutawney Phil himself, and the annual Groundhog Day ceremony. Famous Southern groundhogs include General Beauregard Lee, based at the Yellow River Game Ranch outside Atlanta, Georgia. Groundhogs are"
"gridlock. In the American South, the General Beauregard Lee of Lilburn, Georgia is known to have the most accurate prediction, standing at 94%. The University of Dallas in Irving, Texas has boasted of hosting the second largest Groundhog celebration in the world. The day is observed with various ceremonies at other locations in North America beyond the United States, including Wiarton Willie of Wiarton, Ontario, and Shubenacadie Sam in Nova Scotia which, due to Nova Scotia's Atlantic Time Zone, makes the first Groundhog Day prediction in North America. ""Daks Day"" (from the German ""dachs"") is Groundhog Day in the dialect"
"by cultural interaction between the Spanish elites and the native and ""mestizo"" peoples. As settlers from the United States moved west, they brought cattle breeds developed on the east coast and in Europe along with them, and adapted their management to the drier lands of the west by borrowing key elements of the Spanish vaquero culture. However, there were cattle on the eastern seaboard. Deep Hollow Ranch, east of New York City in Montauk, New York, claims to be the first ranch in the United States, having continuously operated since 1658. The ranch makes the somewhat debatable claim of having"
"hunt and ""Groundhog Feast"", which took place annually in September. The ""hunt"" portion of it became increasingly a ritualized formality, because the practical procurement of meat had to occur well ahead of time for marinating. A drink called the ""groundhog punch"" was also served. The flavor has been described as a ""cross between pork and chicken"". The hunt and feast did not attract enough outside interest, and the practice discontinued. The largest Groundhog Day celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where crowds as large as 40,000 gather each year (nearly eight times the year-round population of the town). The average"
"the event ever since. Clymer Freas (1867–1942) who was city editor at the ""Punxsutawney Spirit"" is credited as the ""father"" who conceived the idea of ""Groundhog Day"". It has also been suggested that Punxsutawney was where all the Groundhog Day events originated, from where it spread to other parts of the United States and Canada. The Groundhog Day celebrations of the 1880s were carried out by the Punxsutawney Elks Lodge. The lodge members were the ""genesis"" of the Groundhog Club formed later, which continued the Groundhog Day tradition. But the lodge started out being interested in the groundhog as a"
"the North American Groundhog Day. Ax Among other things, the Celtic goddess Brigid was said to be associated with serpents. Her festival day, Imbolc is traditionally a time for weather prognostication based on watching to see if serpents or badgers came from their winter dens. A Scottish Gaelic proverb about the day is: Ancient Mesopotamians and Semites believed that snakes were immortal because they could infinitely shed their skin and appear forever youthful, appearing in a fresh guise every time. The Sumerians worshipped a serpent god named Ningishzida. Before the arrival of the Israelites, snake cults were well established in"
"length of winter, or so it has been claimed, but without demonstration of its age, in a publication by the Scotland-born American journalist Thomas C. MacMillan in 1886, and American writer/journalist Samuel Adams Drake's book published in 1900. In the Gaelic calendar of Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man, Brigid's Day (February 1) is a day for predicting the weather. While in Scotland the animal that heralds spring on this day is a snake,<ref name=""Carmina1""> Groundhog Day Groundhog Day (Pennsylvania German: ""Grund'sau dåk"", ""Grundsaudaag"", ""Grundsow Dawg"", ""Murmeltiertag""; Nova Scotia: Daks Day) is a popular tradition celebrated in the United"
"in other locations in North America. A midwinter celebration involving an animal with predictive powers was an element of Celtic culture. The link between weather prediction and the day is said to have been inspired by an old Scottish couplet: ""If Candlemas Day is bright and clear/ There'll be two winters in the year."" The story of Wiarton Willie dates back to 1956. A Wiarton resident named Mac McKenzie wanted to showcase his childhood home to his many friends, so he sent out invitations for a ""Groundhog Day"" gathering. One of these invitations fell into the hands of a ""Toronto"
"Eve, the hoky, or seed cake, these he yeerely keepes, yet holds them no reliques of popery.""</poem> Early English settlers took the idea of harvest thanksgiving to North America. The most famous one is the harvest Thanksgiving held by the Pilgrims in 1621. Nowadays the festival is held at the end of harvest, which varies in different parts of Britain. Sometimes neighbouring churches will set the Harvest Festival on different Sundays so that people can attend each other's thanksgivings. Until the 20th century most farmers celebrated the end of the harvest with a big meal called the harvest supper, to"
"Mardi Gras in the United States Mardi Gras in the United States is not observed nationally across the country, however a number of cities and regions in the U.S. have notable Carnival celebrations. Most trace their Mardi Gras celebrations to French, Spanish, and other colonial influences on the settlements over their history. The earliest Carnival celebration in North America occurred at a place on the west bank of the Mississippi river about 60 miles (96.6 kilometers) downriver from where New Orleans is today; this Mardi Gras on the 3rd of March 1699 and in honor of this holiday, Pierre Le"
"same origin as the maypoles. In many places inhabitants decorate village fountains with flowers and birch branches to which they attach colorful ribbons and chains of colored eggs. Dutch colonists and settlers in present-day New York State and New Jersey brought the celebration of Pinkster to North America in the 17th century. However, by the 19th century, Pinkster had evolved into a primarily African-American holiday, celebrated by slaves and free blacks, and liberally seasoned with African culture and traditions. In contrast to the Southern plantations, the great majority of Northern farm families owned few slaves. With the less hospitable climate"
"carnival is the welcoming of spring and a celebration of birth and renewal. The carnival originates from a combination of pagan ceremonies, catholic beliefs and ethnic diversity and is a mixture of the European, African and Indian traditions, dances and music. It was at first a holiday for slaves, and grew to be a celebration of the region. Local beliefs date it back seven centuries and it is known that a great deal of the traditions were brought to America by the Spanish and Portuguese. The first notable date in the Carnival's history is 1888, when a figure known as"
"tradition, such as the hackamore, can in turn be traced to roots in ancient Persia. During the 16th century, the Conquistadors and other Spanish settlers brought their cattle-raising traditions as well as both horses and domesticated cattle to the Americas, starting with their arrival in what today is Mexico and Florida. The traditions of Spain were transformed by the geographic, environmental and cultural circumstances of New Spain, which later became Mexico and the Southwestern United States. In turn, the land and people of the Americas also saw dramatic changes due to Spanish influence. The arrival of horses was particularly significant,"
"after 1700, late autumn Thanksgiving celebrations became commonplace. New immigrants into the country—such as the Irish, Scottish, and Germans—also added their own traditions to the harvest celebrations. Most of the US aspects of Thanksgiving (such as the turkey) were incorporated when United Empire Loyalists began to flee from the United States during the American Revolution and settled in Canada. Pilgrims and Puritans who emigrated from England in the 1620s and 1630s carried the tradition of Days of Fasting and Days of Thanksgiving with them to New England. The modern Thanksgiving holiday tradition is traced to a well-recorded 1619 event in"
"of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. In French Canada, Fred la marmotte of Val-d'Espoir has been the representative forecaster for the province of Quebec since 2009. A study also shows that in Quebec, the marmot or groundhog (""siffleux"") are regarded as Candlemas weather-predicting beasts in some scattered spots, but the bear is the more usual animal. In 2017 Groundhog Day was scheduled to be observed at zoos in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Samara, Russia. The Pennsylvania Dutch were immigrants from German-speaking areas of Europe. The Germans already had a tradition of marking Candlemas (February 2) as ""Badger Day"" (""Dachstag""), where if a"
"America are known to have winter-predicting groundhogs. The most famous is Punxsutawney Phil of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania (which appeared in the movie ""Groundhog Day""). There is also ""Staten Island Chuck"" in New York, ""Balzac Billy"" in Alberta, ""General Beauregard Lee"" in Jackson, Georgia, ""Shubenacadie Sam"" in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, Two Rivers Tunnel in Cape Breton and ""Gary the Groundhog"" in Kleinburg, Ontario, among many others. In 2014, a new prognosticator entered the mix: Toronto's ""Dundas Donna."" There is also la marmotte de Québec, Fred. He is celebrated in Québec, and is more recent than others. Wiarton Willie Wiarton Willie is the"
"This was a Welsh enclave but the diarist was commenting on his neighbors who were of German stock. The first reported news of a Groundhog Day observance was arguably made by the ""Punxsutawney Spirit"" newspaper of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania in 1886: ""up to the time of going to press, the beast has not seen its shadow"". However, it was not until the following year in 1887 that the first Groundhog Day considered ""official"" was commemorated here, with a group making a trip to the Gobbler's Knob part of town to consult the groundhog. People have gathered annually at the spot for"
"Americans about history. The event was organized in a period of Native American activism and general cultural protests. The protest is organized by the United American Indians of New England (UAINE). Since it was first organized, social changes have resulted in major revisions to the portrayal of United States history, the government's and settlers' relations with Native American peoples, and renewed appreciation for Native American culture. European feasts celebrating harvest is a practice that predates their arrival in North America. The first documented thanksgiving services in the present day United States of America was conducted by Spanish and French arrivals"
"United States. The earliest settlement can be found in enclaves such as Manila Village in Jefferson Parish and St. Malo in St. Bernard Parish in Louisiana which were founded in 1763, became part of Spanish Louisiana and became home to approximately 2,000 Filipino sailors and laborers. With houses platformed on stilts, the fishermen caught and dried their precious commodity, shrimp, for export to Asia, Canada, South and Central America. They introduced innovations such as ""dancing the shrimp"" and shrimp farming to the United States. Weather conditions eventually destroyed St. Malo in 1915 and Manila Village in 1965. On July 24,"
"on that date. Christmas traditions in the United States have many eclectic origins with those from the United Kingdom predominant, but many others over the past 400 years have come from Scandinavia, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Germany, and, most recently, Spanish speakers from Latin America and the Caribbean during the 20th century. Therefore, the substrate of the meal usually is British in origin: roasted root vegetables as a side dish, mashed potatoes, gravy, and the centerpiece being a stuffed roasted fowl (pheasant, goose, duck, or turkey) or an expensive cut of roasted beef or beef Wellington. In the South, an"
"Staten Island Chuck Staten Island Chuck, also referred to more formally as Charles G. Hogg, is a groundhog who resided in the Staten Island Zoo in Staten Island, New York City. He serves as the official groundhog meteorologist of New York City, who predicts the duration of winter each February 2 on Groundhog Day. The tradition dates back to 1981. He makes the prediction based on whether or not he sees his shadow during the ceremony between 7:00 A.M. - 7:30 A.M. on Groundhog Day. The ceremony at the zoo is sometimes attended and officiated by the Mayor of New"
"every year. The association picked June because Icelandic Independence Day, or National Day, is June 17. Spanish Fork was the first Icelandic settlement in the United States, after Icelanders who joined the Church of Jesus Christ were expelled from that country, according to association spokesman Glenn Grossman. Although other nationalities helped found the town, under colonizer Brigham Young, Icelanders kept their identity and celebrate it with their culture every year during the three-day event. The Harvest Moon Hurrah is sponsored by the Spanish Fork Arts Council and takes place on a Saturday in September closest to the date of the"
"in England, even though the bird is native to the Americas. The Spaniards had brought domesticated turkeys back from Central America in the early 17th century, and the birds soon became popular fare all over Europe, including England, where turkey (as an alternative to the traditional goose) became a ""fixture at English Christmases"". The Pilgrims did not observe Christmas. As a result of the size of Thanksgiving dinner, Americans eat more food on Thanksgiving than on any other day of the year. Thanksgiving was founded as a religious observance for all the members of the community to give thanks to"
"an unknown English-speaking immigrant from the eastern United States. French customs practiced in Prairie du Rocher include ""La Guiannée"", a custom of caroling on New Year's Eve dating back to medieval times in France. It has been celebrated in Prairie du Rocher every New Year's Eve since settlement in 1722. The town also celebrates ""Rendezvous"" during the summer, as well as the winter, at the Fort de Chartres. During that time, people from a broad area come to camp out for the weekend. They dress like Indians and French soldiers of the mid-18th century, camp out at the fort, and"
"allowing the settlers to occupy the area around the former Patuxet village. Massasoit honored this treaty until his death in 1661. In the fall of 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag shared an autumn harvest feast. This three-day celebration involving the entire village and about 90 Wampanoag has been celebrated as a symbol of cooperation and interaction between English colonists and Native Americans. The event later inspired 19th century Americans to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday in the United States. The harvest celebration took place at the historic site of the Patuxet villages. Squanto's involvement as an intermediary in"
"later American territories of what is now Northern Mexico, Texas, New Mexico and California. They caught the horses that roamed the Great Plains and the San Joaquin Valley of California, and later in the Great Basin, from the 18th century to the early 20th century. Distinct regional traditions arose in the United States, particularly in Texas and California, distinguished by local culture, geography and historical patterns of settlement. In turn, the California tradition had an influence on cattle handling traditions in Hawaii. The ""buckaroo"" or ""California"" tradition, most closely resemblied that of the original vaquero, while the ""Texas"" tradition melded"
"USA has played a large role in the culture of the United States. About 33.3 million Americans—10.5% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2013 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. Irish Americans have made many contributions to American culture and sport. Halloween is thought to have evolved from the ancient Celtic/Gaelic festival of Samhain, which was introduced in the American colonies by Irish settlers. A number of the presidents of the United States have Irish origins. The extent of Irish heritage varies. For example, Chester A. Arthur's father and both of Andrew Jackson's parents were"