Groundhog’s Day (February 2nd) is a holiday in the US and Canada. No one gets off work or school, but you do get to find out whether a groundhog saw his shadow:
- saw his shadow = six more weeks of winter weather (till March 16th);
- otherwise: an early spring.
“Like Groundhog’s Day” means the Hollywood film “Groundhog’s Day” (1993) where a weatherman played by Bill Murray keeps reliving February 2nd over and over again till he gets it right.
Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather Prophet Extraordinary (pictured above), is by far the most famous of the prognosticating groundhogs.
Groundhogs (Marmota monax, aka woodchucks), a kind of marmot, are large ground squirrels not ground hogs. They live in holes in the ground in the woods and plains of Canada and the eastern US, helping to maintain the soil. They like to eat dandelions, clover and grass. Phil himself lives at the Punxsutawney Library, eating dog food and ice cream.
On February 2nd, for every year since 1887, Phil is brought to Gobbler’s Knob (40.93611° N, 78.95389° W), a wooded hill outside of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. At sunrise (7.25am local time or 12.25 GMT) they put him on a fake tree stump where he tells the President of the Inner Circle (a group of men in black top hats and black coats) whether he saw his shadow. The president has an old wooden cane that lets him understand Groundhogese.
It gets worse.
Seeing his shadow: The Inner Circle decide ahead of time whether Phil will see his shadow! In 2021 he saw his shadow – while it was snowing!
Accuracy: Phil – or, rather, the Inner Circle – get it right only about 39% of the time.
Punxsutawney is about 135 km north-east of Pittsburgh. It is so remote that Hollywood recreated part of the town in Woodstock, Illinois to shoot the film. Before 1993, only about 2,000 attended Phil’s prognostications. In 1997, some 35,000 came. In 2021 few showed up because of the pandemic.
Old as dirt: Like Halloween, Groundhog’s Day corresponds to one of the quarter days of ancient Ireland: Imbolc (February 1st). That is the day when Cailleach, the divine hag who determines the weather, gathers firewood for the second half of winter. If it is sunny she can gather more wood, which means the winter will last longer!
Germans had a similar weather model but left the weather observations to be made by badgers (Meles meles) on Candlemas (February 2nd), the 40th day of Christmas. Germans brought the tradition to North America, using groundhogs in place of badgers. Badgers are common in Europe but not North America.
The first written reference is from 1841:
“February 4, 1841 – from Morgantown, Berks County (Pennsylvania) storekeeper James Morris’ diary…”Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate.”
– Abagond, 2022.
Update (2/2/22): Phil “saw” his shadow – six more weeks of winter weather.
Sources: mainly Google Images, Stormfax, Encyclopaedia Britannica.
See also:
522
Abagond 
Update (2/2/22): Phil “saw” his shadow – six more weeks of winter weather.
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Living in Anglo-America.
LikeLike