Get ready for Groundhog Day on Feb. 2

Groundhog Day on Feb. 2 isn’t a get-off-from-work holiday…but, by golly, it should be.

EarthSky.org has confirmed that Groundhog Day already is a true “astronomy holiday” – falling midway between the December solstice and the March equinox. That means…come Feb. 2 winter is officially half over – certainly worthy of celebration. 

In Europe, the mid-point of winter was when clergymen would bless and distribute candles to people so they could have enough light to see them through the second half of winter. One source said the allotment was based on an assessment of how dreary the remaining weeks of winter would be. 

Supposedly, the Germans expanded on this concept by selecting an animal – the hedgehog – as a means of predicting the weather. If the hedgehog cast a shadow, there would be an early spring. If not, there would be six more grueling weeks of winter. 

German settlers arriving in Pennsylvania opted to continue the tradition, but since there are no hedgehogs in North America, they adopted the groundhog (also known as a woodchuck) as an honorable replacement. 

The most famous of all groundhogs is Punxsutawney Phil, who premiered as a “rodent meteorologist” in 1887 at Gobbler’s Knob, a wilderness area just a short distance from Punxsutawney, Pa.

 

The idea was concocted by Clymer H. Freas, editor of The Punxsutawney Spirit newspaper. He formed a group that became known as the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, and an entire ritual has been created, centered around Phil’s cameo appearance every Feb. 2 at 7:25 a.m. 

For the record, Phil predicts “six more weeks of winter” 84.3% of the time. Early springs are quite rare in Pennsylvania. Freas apparently grew tired of freezing; he resigned as the local paper’s editor in 1910 and moved to Florida. 

Today, life is good in Punxsutawney, which is about 80 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. The town has about 5,750 people, and “Phil’s Burrow” is inside the Punxsutawney Memorial Library. There’s a viewing window, so passersby can peek in. Inside, patrons observe Phil from the reading room. 

He seems to enjoy the perks, such as a temperature-controlled burrow and food, water and fresh bedding provided on a daily basis by volunteers from the groundhog club. 

The town librarian said that Phil “sometimes goes out on fun adventures – a farm show, Pittsburgh’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, school appearances and assemblies, bus tours, weddings, baseball games. He’s a popular fella.” 

Before Christmas, he participated in “PJs & Pancakes with Santa and Phil” at the Gobbler’s Knob Visitors Center. Kids got their photos made with Santa and Phil. 

The town continues to relish its role in Groundhog Day. At last count, there were 32 “Phantastic Phils” located within the Punxsutawney community – large fiberglass versions of the famous groundhog. Each is painted to reflect the personality of the sponsoring business or organization.

The Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center opened in the town’s old post office building in 2007 to promote Punxsutawney as “the weather capital of the world.”

There is only one Punxsutawney. It’s a fun word for your mouth to say. The name was derived from the Native American word for sand flies, a gnat-like insect that was once abundant in the area, known as “ponkies.” The “town of the ponkies” became Punxsutawney. 

Punxsutawney High School athletic teams are known as the Punxsy Chucks (as in woodchucks). The mascot is an adorable furry creature.

 Did you know that North Carolina has its own assembly of critters who also work as weather prognosticators on Groundhog Day? We’ll go there next.