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Groundhog Day

February 2 is Groundhog Day in the United States and in Canada. The groundhog, also known as a woodchuck (Marmota monax), is a member of the squirrel family. According to American legend, the local television news and Hollywood, he is also a weatherman.

If he sees his shadow when he emerges from his home on the morning of February 2, he is frightened back into his hole and there will be another six weeks of winter. If the weather is cloudy and there is no shadow, then winter is nearly over. TV cameras surround the poor creature’s hole, waiting for him to appear and broadcasting his prediction to the nation.

The odd tradition of relying on a small, frightened rodent to forecast the weather combines the origin beliefs of the Delaware Indians, the Candlemas Day traditions of German settlers, and early Celtic traditions around Imbolc, the mid-point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox — another example of the blending of the traditions of Western European settlers with those of Native American cultures.

Origins of Groundhog Day

According to the origin legends of the Delaware Indians, their ancestors began life as animals in “Mother Earth,” and emerged centuries later to hunt and live as men. The name woodchuck comes from the Indian legend “Wojak, the Groundhog” — considered by them to be their ancestral grandfather.

When German settlers arrived in the Pennsylvania area in the 1700s, they brought a tradition known as Candlemas Day. In Europe, it was the custom on Candlemas Day for clergy to bless candles and distribute them to the people in the dark of Winter. A lighted candle was placed in each window of the home. If the sun came out February 2, halfway between Winter and Spring, it meant six more weeks of wintry weather.

Candlemas Day is based on an even older Celtic belief that animals had animals had certain supernatural powers on special days of the year. One such day was Imbolc, the mid-point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. German and French folklore has stories about badgers or bears who came out of their winter dens too early, and then were frightened back in for another four to six weeks. The Roman soldiers who returned to Italy with these barbarian stories turned the mammals into a rodent, the hedgehog, leading to Hedgehog Day being celebrated in some areas.

In Pennsylvania, USA, the animal emerging from its den became the groundhog that was revered by the local Indians. Candlemas Day became the day that the groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters to see whether he needs to continue his nap, or whether it is safe to come out for warmer weather. The earliest known American reference was made in 1841 in a Pennsylvania storekeeper’s diary. 1886 saw the first published reference to the holiday in a small town’s newspaper, The Punxsutawney Spirit, which named its local Groundhog “Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather Prophet Extraordinary.”

Groundhog Day was the title of a 1993 Hollywood movie, and is now the topic of talk shows, television news reports and weather announcer jokes across the country. Americans who have chosen to live in warmer climates such as Florida or California congratulate themselves on their choice to live in places without any winter at all; people in the colder states bundle up and settle in for another six weeks of sweaters, boots and mittens.

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