Tired of this cold, snowy weather? Well, look no further than our favorite furry forecaster, Phil! Groundhog Day is the tradition in early February when people gather to watch a groundhog emerge from his burrow. According to legend, if the groundhog sees his shadow there will be six more weeks of winter, but if he doesn’t see his shadow, spring will come early. This may be a yearly tradition but not a lot of people know the history of Groundhog Day.
Groundhog Day was first celebrated in Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania on February 2, 1887. Local newspaper editor Clymer Freas declared that Phil, Punxsutawney’s groundhog, was the only accurate weather forecaster. Freas was part of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club and he thought the publicity would be good for both his club and his groundhogs. Freas also hoped that creating a new event would attract visitors, and create new stories that the newspaper could report each year.
Clymer Freas chose February 2nd because in many ancient cultures that date represented the start of spring. February 2nd is the midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox and was known among the Celts as Imbolc, a celebration to mark the first day of spring and the coming of new livestock and crops. Early Christians celebrated Candlemas on February 2nd and believed that a sunny Candlemas meant another 40 days of winter. In Germany, the Candlemas tradition evolved to include a hedgehog. If the hedgehog saw his shadow on Candlemas Day it was believed that there would be a “second winter.” German emigrants likely brought these traditions with them when they came to the U.S. and settled in Pennsylvania, and probably gave Freas the idea for the first Groundhog Day.
Freas’s idea certainly caught on, because Groundhog Day is still celebrated every year in Punxsutawney, and according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, participation in Groundhog Day has seen a steady increase each year from people all over the world. Groundhog Day has been a successful local event since the mid-1900s, however, its popularity skyrocketed after the 1993 movie Groundhog Day was released, making Gobbler’s Knob and Phil even more famous. Since then tens of thousands of people have attended Groundhog’s Day events in the the small town of Punxsutawney.
Groundhog Day might be a fun winter tradition, but Puxatawney Phil’s accuracy rate is estimated to be as low as 38%! Maybe these furry friends aren’t the best weather forecasters since they were thrown into the spotlight to start predicting the weather.
