The Legend of Punxatawny Phil . . .

February 2nd has come and gone, and that cute groundhog, Phil, has made the same prediction again - 6 more weeks of winter.  For the past 10 years he has seen his shadow, indicating 6 more weeks of winter.  Only in 2007 he didn't see his shadow, and forecast an early spring.  At this point in winter, I'm tired of it!  Tired of being cold, of mostly cloudy days, and everything being dead and ugly, so I always hope for some sign that spring is on it's way. 

I got curious, where did the tradition of a groundhog being the prognosticator of spring start.  So I did a little research and found, as with most "American" holidays, its beginnings can be found in European traditions, and like most European traditions there is a link to religion, and like most religious celebrations, there is a link to pegan celebrations.  Everything is connected in some way.

It all started in ancient Ireland when the celebration was called Imbolc, it was a time for purification and celebration of the spring that was to come.  The Celtic goddess Brigid was closely associated with this celebration.  She was the goddess of poetry and healing, holy wells and sacred flames.  Fire, initiation and purificatin were important aspects of the festival.  After Christianity took over most of the European continent, the celebration became Candlemas or the Festival of Lights.  This is the day when all the candles that were to be used in the church during the coming year were brought into the church and a blessing was said over them.  February 2nd also has links to Jewish law, as it took 40 days after a birth for a woman to be cleansed following the birth of a son.  February 2nd is 40 days after Christmas.  That might explain why this day is also referred to as the Purification of the Virign.

Many of Pennsylvania's first settlers were of German ancestry.  German folklore held that on Candlemas Day, if a hedgehog saw its shadow there would be six more weeks of winter, else it was almost over. The German's kept many of their traditions, but had to adapt them to their new country. There were no hedgehogs in Pennsylvania, but the groundhog was in great supply and similar in appearance  to the hedgehog.  And the groundhog was already considered somewhat of a legend as the local Indians, Delawares, had a legend entitled "Wojak, the Groundhog" (where we got the name woodchuck), they considered the groundhog their ancestrial grandfather. So the groundhog started his days as a weatherman.

Punxatawny is located 80 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, in rural Pennsylvania.  The population in 2000 (the last census) was 6,271.  The entire town of Punxatawny encompasses 3.4 square miles.  February 2, 1841 is the earliest written reference to Groundhog's Day.  The Punxsutawney Spirit newspaper's first official observance was in 1886.  Phil has continued to gain notariety, the 1993 movie Groundhog Day (which was actually filmed in Woodstock, Illinois) started the consistent increase each year in attendance at the annual event, held at Gobbler's Knob in Punxatawny.  Since the movie there have been years that attendance was as high as 30,000!!!!  Phil also tried his hand at stardom, appearing on Oprah in 1995.  There are even "copy cat" Phil's.  Alaska doesn't have a large population of groundhogs, so they adapted the tradition to use a Marmot, which is very similar and is in the same family.  In 2009, Marmot Day, became an official observation in Alaska when Govenor Sarah Palin signed the legislature into law.

Although Phil, and many "imposters", make the nightly news on February 2nd each year, his predictions are not that accurate.  Phil has seen his shadow 100 out of 115 outings, according to meterologists he has only been correct 39%.   But he's still probably the cutest weatherman around!!