Why is a small furry creature considered the best meteorologist in the US based on his one weather report a year? Though it sounds crazy, when you get down to it, that’s exactly what Groundhog Day is all about.
Groundhog Day is easily one of the most underappreciated holidays we celebrate here in America, perhaps second to Arbor Day. Most speculate it’s underappreciated because the groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, almost always predicts there will be 6 more weeks of winter.
So where did this holiday using a small, innocent mammal as a scapegoat for this cold and long Pennsylvania winter season even come from?
e history of Groundhog Day is somewhat of a cloudy mystery, but for the most part it’s associated with certain animals awakening from their hibernation.
“The groundhog tradition stems from similar beliefs associated with Candlemas Day and the days of early Christians in Europe, and for centuries the custom was to have the clergy bless candles and distribute them to the people,” according to groundhog.org.
This tradition starts all the way back with Roman legions, which brought this strange tradition to the Germans during their conquest of the northern country. The original tale was that if the sun made an appearance on Candlemas Day, a hedgehog would cast a shadow. That shadow is crucial in the aspect that if the hedgehog sees that it’s cloudy, it’ll believe it’s spring and stay above ground. Had it seen its shadow, it would’ve taken it as a sign that winter is still there and retreat back underground.
So why do we leave our winter weather predictions up to a groundhog and not a hedgehog like in the original tradition? Most of Pennsylvania’s earliest settlers were of German descent, which is how this tradition made its home in Pennsylvania. Upon these settlers reaching America, they found the groundhog to be a locally abundant animal that resembled and was intelligent enough to serve as the replacement to the original role of the hedgehog.
Since then, Groundhog Day has grown into the most important day of the year for residents of Punxsutawney, PA. Legend is that they’ve used the same groundhog every single year since the first hosted the Groundhog Day celebration in 1887. This is because the groundhog “drinks a magical elixir” over the summer in order to prolong his life. Mr. Punxsutawney Phil is quite the little star, attracting crowds as large as 10,000 from all over the world to watch him make his prediction. No wonder the poor guy sees his shadow almost every year— one can only imagine the amount of light a crowd that size brings with them.
So next time, before you go slamming Groundhog Day for being “the most pointless holiday,” think of how that fuzzy little guy feels being woken up that early in the morning.