2008 Woodie Awards
Six More Weeks of Winter are in Store...but you Already Knew That
Sophia D'Addio
Issue date: 2/4/05 Section: Arts & Features
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We certainly don't need a groundhog to tell us that it will be a long winter. Here in Hamilton, a constant blanket of snow, icy winds and chattering teeth continue on well into March and beyond. On Wednesday, Punxsutawney Phil went about his annual routine: after warming himself for some time inside Gobbler's Knob, his luxuriously heated faux tree stump, he was summoned at 7:25 a.m. to look for his shadow. Unfortunately, he was successful. Our fate has been confirmed by the prophetic rodent: another 40 days of foul winter weather loom ahead.
The groundhog tradition can be traced back to early Christian communities throughout Europe in the sixth century C.E. According to groundhog.org, the official site of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, the tradition is derived from the Christian celebration of Candlemas Day, which occurred 40 days after Christmas, on February 2. On this day, members of the clergy would bless candles for the remainder of the dark winter days and distribute them among the people. Additionally, observation of the weather on this day soon became a device for predicting the progression of the seasons: if the sky was clear and the sun shone, people believed they were in for six more weeks of winter; an overcast sky, on the other hand, was considered a harbinger of an early spring. An English poem expresses this idea quite candidly:
If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Come, Winter, have another flight.
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Go, Winter, and come not again.
This theme of predictive weather was further expanded upon in Germany, where the badger and hedgehog were appointed harbingers of fair and foul: if the sunlight produced a shadow, winter would continue. Consequently, when German settlers arrived in Pennsylvania in the early 18th century, they brought with them this cultural tradition. The native groundhog soon followed in the footsteps of his clairvoyant rodent predecessors, and the American tradition of Groundhog Day was born.
The Stormfax Weather Almanac indicates that the earliest surviving reference to Groundhog Day and its origins was recorded by storekeeper James Morris of Morgantown, Pennsylvania, in 1841: "Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow, he pops back for another six weeks of napping, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate."