Happy Groundhog Day!

Happy Groundhog Day! Will Punxsutawney Phil see his shadow? Or will there be an early spring?

Groundhog Day originates from the European Candlemas.

Candlemas came at the mid-point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. On Candlemas Day, it was the custom 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. The superstition held that a sunny Candlemas Day, February 2nd, foretold that the second half of winter would be stormy and cold. In other words, six more weeks of winter.

But where does Groundhog Day--and Punxsutawney Phil--fit in?

The European Germans believed an animal, initially a hedgehog, frightened by his shadow on Candlemas foretold that winter would last another six weeks. So when the the German settlers came to America in the 18th century, they adopted the groundhog as their weather predictor.

Combined with this, the Delaware Indians settled Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania in 1723. According to the Delaware Indians' creation myth, their ancestors began life as animals in "Mother Earth," and emerged centuries later as men. Groundhogs were considered their ancestral "grandfather."

And so the tradition of Groundhog Day came to be!

February 2nd, 1886, Clymer H. Freas, editor of The Punxsutawney Spirit, the local newspaper, proclaimed Punxsutawney Phil "Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather Prophet Extraordinary," thereby creating the "official" Groundhog Day, as we celebrate it today.

And so it is every February 2, people gather at Gobbler's Knob, a wooded knoll just outside of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

According to the old English saying:

If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Winter has another flight.
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Winter will not come again.

From Scotland:

If Candlemas Day is bright and clear,
There'll be two winters in the year.

From Germany:

For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day,
So far will the snow swirl until May.
For as the snow blows on Candlemas Day,
So far will the sun shine before May.

And from America:

If the sun shines on Groundhog Day;
Half the fuel and half the hay.

THIS JUST IN!

Phil has apparently seen his shadow, and that means six more weeks of winter.


Oh, well, spring is just around the corner!


Links:


Groundhog Day History

Origins of Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day Coloring Pages

Groundhog Day Activities and Crafts

Groundhog Day Greeting Cards

Groundhog Day Crafts and printables

Groundhog Coloring Pages