groundhog day

February 2: General Interest
1887 : First Groundhog Day

On this day in 1887, Groundhog Day, featuring a rodent meteorologist,
is celebrated for the first time at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney,
Pennsylvania. According to tradition, if a groundhog comes out of its
hole on this day and sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of
winter weather; no shadow means an early spring.

Groundhog Day has its roots in the ancient Christian tradition of
Candlemas Day, when clergy would bless and distribute candles needed
for winter. The candles represented how long and cold the winter would
be. Germans expanded on this concept by selecting an animal--the
hedgehog--as a means of predicting weather. Once they came to America,
German settlers in Pennsylvania continued the tradition, although they
switched from hedgehogs to groundhogs, which were plentiful in the
Keystone State.

Groundhogs, also called woodchucks and whose scientific name is
Marmota monax, typically weigh 12 to 15 pounds and live six to eight
years. They eat vegetables and fruits, whistle when they're frightened
or looking for a mate and can climb trees and swim. They go into
hibernation in the late fall; during this time, their body
temperatures drop significantly, their heartbeats slow from 80 to five
beats per minute and they can lose 30 percent of their body fat. In
February, male groundhogs emerge from their burrows to look for a mate
(not to predict the weather) before going underground again. They come
out of hibernation for good in March.

In 1887, a newspaper editor belonging to a group of groundhog hunters
from Punxsutawney called the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club declared that
Phil, the Punxsutawney groundhog, was America's only true
weather-forecasting groundhog. The line of groundhogs that have since
been known as Phil might be America's most famous groundhogs, but
other towns across North America now have their own weather-predicting
rodents, from Birmingham Bill to Staten Island Chuck to Shubenacadie
Sam in Canada.

In 1993, the movie Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray popularized the
usage of "groundhog day" to mean something that is repeated over and
over. Today, tens of thousands of people converge on Gobbler's Knob in
Punxsutawney each February 2 to witness Phil's prediction. The
Punxsutawney Groundhog Club hosts a three-day celebration featuring
entertainment and activities.