One of the United States’ stranger holidays is Groundhog Day, celebrated annually on February 2nd, which this year falls on a Sunday.
Every year in the town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania (pronounced PUNKS-uh-TAW-nee), a groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil is lifted out of his burrow. If Phil sees his own shadow, he will be startled and rush back into the burrow, signifying that there will be six more weeks of winter. If it’s too cloudy for Phil to see his shadow, it means that warm spring weather will arrive soon — or so the folklore surrounding the famous rodent goes.
It originated in German and Dutch folklore related to the Christian holiday Candlemas, whose weather was said to be a sign of how hard the months to come were going to be. Other animals, such as hedgehogs, badgers, foxes, or even bears, were looked to for predictions of the weather. When immigrants from these regions came to Pennsylvania and found groundhogs to be more common, the lore was changed.
Attention was drawn to Punxsutawney in 1887, when editor Clymer Freas and the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club claimed in the town newspapers to have the one and only groundhog whose predictions could be trusted. There have been a long line of Punxsutawney Phils over the decades, but the club is known to insistently claim that for all this time, there has been only one Phil, kept alive and kicking with a secret elixir.
Groundhog Day is rarely taken seriously as a predictor of weather — you should look to your local meteorologists, almanac, or other professional source to see how long cold weather is expected to last — and is a custom that’s all in good fun and has been a part of popular culture for decades, most notably portrayed in the 1993 comedy film Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell.
Groundhog Day is not a federal holiday, so expect all businesses, transportation, and government buildings to be operating on normal hours. The only place you can expect to see heavy Groundhog Day-related traffic is around Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, which can receive crowds of thousands attending to observe Phil’s prediction and take part in various groundhog-related festivities. The event can also be live-streamed here starting at 6:00 AM EST on February 2.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at info@gravityintprog.com. Stay safe and healthy, and here’s hoping for early spring!
