This Friday, February 2nd, is Groundhog Day … but what is this strange custom?
The Delaware Indians of Pennsylvania considered groundhogs, which have long been plentiful in the Pennsylvania area, to be honorable ancestors. In the Delawares’ legend of human creation, their ancestral forefathers began life as animals within the earth, and emerged during their evolution into human form. The groundhog is also known as the Woodchuck, or the marmota monax, is a member of the squirrel family, and naturally feeds upon green plants, such as dandelion, clover, and grass.
Settlers of German ancestry arrived in the same Pennsylvania area in the 18th century, bringing with them the tradition of “Candlemas Day,” which falls halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Custom held that if the sun came out on that day, which fell on February 2, six weeks of cold wintery weather would follow.
Over time, it became the custom of the Pennsylvania Germans to watch a badger on this day to see if the sun was bright enough to cast a shadow in front of him. Mixing with the local native American’s reverence of the groundhog, by 1886, a groundhog was selected and dubbed Punxsutawney Phil.
Today, residents of Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania keep the tradition alive by caring for the groundhog whose full name is “Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather Prophet Extraordinary.” His handlers, John Griffiths and Ben Hughes, state that “Phil weighs 15 pounds and thrives on dog food and ice cream in his climate-controlled home at the Punxsutawney Library. Up on Gobbler’s Knob, Phil is placed in a heated burrow underneath a simulated tree stump on stage before being pulled out at 7:25 a.m. to make his prediction.”
Each year, the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club hosts a three-day celebration of entertainment and activities celebrating Punxsutawney Phil. The recording of Phil’s predictions has been kept consistently since 1900, and according to Stormfax.com, his predictions are correct 39% of the time.
