Groundhogs are the American stand-in for European badgers

Looking outside this week, you wouldn’t think we’d need a groundhog to tell us there will be six more weeks of winter. We’ve gotten off so easy this year, it seems only fair that we actually have a winter, and therefore it mostly lies ahead.
Whether there’s a groundhog involved or not, it seems that Feb. 2 is the day for weather prognostication in a variety of cultures.

When I was a kid, the concept of Groundhog Day fascinated me. I remember seeing this mysterious entry on the calendar, printed on, no less, and wondering, “Groundhogs get their own day?” Having spent the first five years of my life in Brooklyn (and then the next 13 in a suburb just outside of Princeton, N.J.) brought up by a Greek mother who was raised in a Jewish Brooklyn neighborhood, groundhogs were foreign to me (Mom described them as “dirty, filthy wild animals,” her standard description for any form of wildlife more exotic than a stray cat). So, when I was a little kid, I couldn’t even imagine what one looked like, let alone figure out why they were apparently important enough to get their own holiday.

Later, in grammar school in suburban New Jersey, I got an explanation—sort of. They were actually rather cute, country-dwelling creatures with a Feb. 2 penchant for determining whether winter would last another six weeks or not. No further attempt at an explanation for this mysterious ability was made, and I don’t remember anyone, the teacher included, questioning the source of this traditional legend. I don’t even think they used it for a springboard to discuss mammals, or animal habits or anything really useful.

Groundhog Day was just another one of those seasonal lessons one repeatedly learns in grammar school with certain key explanations omitted, year after year, like the story of the first Thanksgiving, which so remarkably leaves out the details of how the friendly Native American Squanto just happened to be able to speak perfect English to the Pilgrims. (By the way, Squanto actually did speak English, but I leave that to another column.)

Later, I discovered “Groundhog Day” also happens to be Candlemas on the Christian calendar, and Imbolc (also called Olmeic), a cross-quarter day, in the British Isles, a day sacred to Brigid and predating the area’s conversion to Christianity.

In Europe, it was traditional for farmers to observe the habits of badgers as they emerged from hibernation and their winter dens. Predictably, the precursor to the American groundhog tradition also held that if the creature saw his shadow, he would run back in the den for another nap and there would be six more weeks of winter. If the badger did not see his shadow, it meant the creature had some confidence that spring was just around the corner.

If one’s literal livelihood depended on how the crops do, and that is determined largely by the weather, one can see how this could be a pretty important day.

Important enough, that when the first German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania, the tradition would have to continue. Only there were no badgers in North America, so the groundhog was chosen instead. (I’ve not figured out how this consensus was reached, other than it seems a reasonably logical choice.)

Candlemas, also on Feb. 2, commemorates the ritual purification of Mary, 40 days after the birth of Jesus, but it also has some other traditions attached to it, probably ones associated with the earlier holiday, Imbolc, which later became known as St. Brigid’s Day in the British Isles.

Imbolc tradition holds that other hibernating creatures also emerge on this day to check out the weather. Bears emerge, as well as wolves, which if they choose to return to their lairs on this day is interpreted as meaning severe weather will continue for another 40 days at least. Snakes are also mentioned.

Okay, if I wanted to know what the weather will be 200 years ago or now, I’m sure I’d rather say “hi” to the groundhogs or badgers, rather than asking a bear or a wolf or a snake. So this explains how come Feb. 2 isn’t “Wolf Day” or “Bear Day.”

But apparently you don’t really need to check with the animals to see if spring is on its way.

“If Candlemas be fair and bright, Winter has another flight. If Candlemas brings clouds and rain, Winter will not come again.” and “For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day, so far will the snow swirl in May...” are two traditional rhymes that jive with the badger/groundhog prognostications. If there were no sun, how would the creature see his shadow and get alarmed?

In days of old, the eve of Candlemas, considered the last day in the Christmas season, was also traditionally the day on which Christmas decorations were removed from people’s homes. It was believed that traces of berries, holly and so forth would bring death among the congregation before the year was out if this was not done. Personally, I think this superstition is actually evidence that folks leaving their Christmas decorations up year ‘round to the annoyance of their neighbors is not a problem that is limited to this century. Perhaps this was the Church’s way of getting the attention of those folks—don’t take down those decorations, and you or your loved ones or someone will die because you didn’t (and likely they are going to hell too).

Today, Groundhog Day brings to mind the town that has made Groundhog Day famous—Punxsutawny, Pa. and the movie in which Bill Murray is sentenced to live the day over and over again until he gets it right.

The day actually lasts a week or more there, with all things Punxsutawny Phil, the star of the show, available. There is even a dedicated group of men, called the Groundhog Club Inner Circle, who dress in top hats and tails and are charged with the duty of keeping Phil fed and happy. With titles like “His Protector,” “His Scribe” and “Burrowmaster,” as well as titles like “Head Hailmaker,” “Cloud Builder” and “Fog Spinner,” one can see these folks take the business of Phil and the coming of spring very seriously.

They probably should. For the record, Phil sees his shadow about 9 out of 10 times, and I don’t think this year will be all that unusual.

For more information on Groundhog Day and Punxsutawny Phil, go to: www.groundhog.org.

(Originally published in The Easton News, February 1, 2007)