Episode published: Friday 12/29/2023
Michael: Welcome to Every Day is Groundhog Day (Except for the Days When It's Not), the one and only podcast devoted to the popular holiday, Groundhog Day, probably. I'm Michael and I'm your host. I'm the owner of the website CountdownToGroundhogDay.com and a "Groundhog Day Subject Matter Expert." On this podcast, I'm planning on exploring all aspects of the holiday. I'll be talking to people associated with Groundhog Day in a variety of different ways.
So, this being episode one, I figured it might be a good idea to start off with a bit of a Groundhog Day primer. If you're listening to this there's a good chance you have at least some familiarity with the holiday but maybe you've somehow found yourself listening to the podcast, and have no idea what Groundhog Day is. So, whether you know a little bit about Groundhog Day, a lot, or nothing at all, I figured it would be a good idea to get us all on the same page. In order to not have this whole episode just be me talking to myself and to increase the adorableness factor, I have my daughter here to help me with the discussion. So, Else, what do you know about Groundhog Day?
Else: Every year, Groundhog Day is on February 2nd, and it started with just Punxsutawney Phil.
Michael: And what happens with Punxsutawney Phil?
Else: He either sees his shadow or doesn't and if he sees his shadow, it means six more weeks of winter and if he doesn't, it means spring is starting.
Michael: Yeah, so in a nutshell, that's it. Groundhog Day is an annual holiday which takes place on February 2nd, the most common version involves a groundhog being observed in the morning. If the groundhog sees its shadow, it will run back to its burrow and that means there will be six more weeks of winter. If the groundhog does not see its shadow, that indicates there will be an early spring.
But how did Groundhog Day come to exist in the first place? Well, as with any old traditions, the origins are a little bit murky. There are a number of other older traditions or holidays that are associated with the day when Groundhog Day takes place. The first thing to note is that February 2nd is one of four cross-quarter days in the year, which are days that are equidistant, more or less, between a solstice and an equinox. In this case, it means it's the halfway point of winter. Ancient Celts or Pagans had a festival that took place around this time called Imbolc.
February 2nd is also Candlemas Day, a Christian holiday which takes place 40 days after Christmas, and which commemorates Mary's purification and Jesus's presentation at the Temple of Jerusalem. This celebration came to include a procession and/or a blessing of candles, thus being a candle mass, thus Candlemas. For reasons not entirely clear to me, some Europeans had a belief that the weather on Candlemas Day would give some insight into the weather for the rest of the season. There are a number of sayings or rhymes that I've come across in various books or newspaper articles that deal with this superstition. We're going to read a few of them here for you.
Else: "If Candlemas be bright and clear, there'll be two winters in the year. If Candlemas brings clouds and rain, go winter and come not again."
Michael: Another one is, "If Candlemas day be fair and clear, there will be six months winter in the year."
Else: "If Candlemas day be fair and bright, winter will have another flight. But if it be dark with clouds and rain, winter is gone and will not come again."
Michael: So, they're really just variations on the same idea; good weather means more winter, bad weather means early spring. Eventually, animals, sometimes hibernating and sometimes not, were added to the superstition. These animals included bears, foxes, wolves, and perhaps most commonly badgers. If these animals saw their shadow on Candlemas, it therefore being sunny or bright, they would be scared off and return to their homes. And if not, the weather being dark or stormy, they would stay out, indicating that the winter weather would soon be broken.
When people from Germanic-speaking areas in Europe immigrated to the United States in the 1800s, they largely ended up in Pennsylvania. Badgers weren't native to Pennsylvania, so these settlers transferred the tradition to a different hibernating animal that was plentiful in the region, the groundhog. Although we don't know exactly when groundhogs came to be associated with weather forecasting on Candlemas, we know that it was at least semi-common knowledge by at least 1840. Don Yoder, who was a leading folklorist, from Pennsylvania, tracked down the following reference in storekeeper James L. Morris's diary from February 2, 1840. "Today the Germans say the groundhog comes out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow, he returns in and remains there 40 days."
It's often said that the first mention of Groundhog Day in the press was in the Punxsutawney Spirit in 1886 where it was stated that February 2nd was Groundhog Day and that "up to the time of going to press, the beast has not seen its shadow." That said, I have been able to find a number of references to Groundhog Day going back to newspapers from at least the 1860s. Regardless, Punxsutawney lore claims that the first trip to Gobbler's Knob, the site where the Groundhog Day ceremony is held to this day, took place in 1887 and there are records of predictions beginning in that year, although a lot of the years in the next few decades after that have no prediction recorded. The first Groundhog Picnic was supposedly held that year where they feasted upon groundhog meat. The hunters involved in the groundhog hunt would eventually be given the name the Groundhog Club by 1899 at the latest and the hunting and eating of groundhog on Groundhog Day continued for several decades.
Clymer Freas, the editor of the Punxsutawney Spirit is widely credited for being the individual who made the first reference to Groundhog Day in 1886 and for being responsible for perpetuating the legend of Groundhog Day in the early years and solidifying Punxsutawney's affiliation with the holiday. He supposedly chose Gobbler's Knob as the location of the annual prognostication and came up with the idea of the groundhog speaking in Groundhogese. Other editors of the Punxsutawney Spirit continued publicizing the holiday, even in years when interest seemed to be dying down, particularly during the 1920s and '30s. Interest rekindled in the 1940s and '50s and the Groundhog Day tradition continued to grow, becoming what it is today.
Now, up until this point, you may notice that I haven't used the name Punxsutawney Phil, the name of Punxsutawney's groundhog. It might surprise you to learn that Punxsutawney's groundhog wasn't actually called Phil until the early 1960s, almost 75 years after the supposed first Groundhog Day prediction. Did you know that Punxsutawney Phil wasn't always Punxsutawney Phil?
Else: No.
Michael: So, I found references to a Punxsutawney Pete just before Punxsutawney Phil. So, I think for a little while he was called Punxsutawney Pete.
Else: That's cool!
Michael: I think they're not exactly sure why they named him Phil. I've seen people say that it was maybe named after King Philip or Prince Philip but it's unclear exactly why his name was changed to Phil. [clip from Groundhog Day ceremony]So, the current celebration in Punxsutawney is massive. People arrive before dawn and stand out in the Pennsylvania cold at Gobbler's Knob for four or five hours. There's entertainment before the prediction ceremony including live music, contests, and fireworks. Crowds are now in the tens of thousands. I've seen estimates as high as 40,000-plus during some recent years. When it's time for Phil to give his prediction, members of the inner council make their way to the stage, Phil is removed from inside his stump, which is his temporary home for the ceremony, and then he explains in Groundhogese to the president of the Groundhog Club what his prediction is. [clip of Groundhog Day ceremony]As mentioned before, if he sees his shadow, that indicates that there will be six more weeks of winter, no shadow, and spring will arrive at some unspecified, but earlier than usual time. A scroll is then read to the crowd based on whatever Phil predicted. Do you want to read the prediction from 2023?
Else: Yeah.
I see the morning has brought the finest people. I see their bravery and spirit. The time has come, I can feel it. The excitement, I can hear it. I see the folks with gray in their hair and the kids all young and scrawny, their eyes and cheeks aglow from the cold, clean air of sweet Punxsutawney. I see that everyone knows their part and I am merely the sage. But above all Else, I see a shadow on my stage! So, no matter how you measure, it's six more weeks of winter weather.
Michael: Did you know that Punxsutawney Phil is, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, over 135 years old?
Else: No!
Michael: Do you think that's a long time for a groundhog?
Else: Yeah.
Michael: So, on average, a groundhog in the wild will live something like two or three years, maybe up to five or six. In captivity, they'll live around 10 to 15, maybe 20 years. So, that's a really long time. According to the Groundhog Club, they give him an elixir every year that prolongs his life seven years at the annual Groundhog Picnic, which takes place at the end of summer. That elixir is made of dandelion juice, I believe. So, what do you think? Do you think that that's true? Do you think that Punxsutawney Phil is really 135-plus years old? I think it's actually, like, 137 years this Groundhog Day.
Else: Maybe. But that's very, very old.
Michael: It's really old. It's possible there have been multiple Punxsutawney Phils or Punxsutawney Petes, as he was earlier known, as we talked about. But maybe, just maybe, there's a magic elixir that he gets every year that prolongs his life.
Else: Yeah.
Michael: Punxsutawney is hardly the only place where Groundhog Day has been celebrated over the years. As early as 1908, the first rival to Punxsutawney's Groundhog Day dominance arose across the state when the Slumbering Groundhog Lodge was organized by a group of leading citizens and businesspeople in Quarryville, Pennsylvania. Quarryville's groundhog remained Punxsutawney's main competition for most of the 20th century, with many newspapers reporting both of the rival towns' Groundhog Day predictions each year. Although Quarryville's groundhog mascot, who was a stuffed groundhog, remained unnamed for a long time, it was eventually given the name Octoraro Orphie.
In 1933, the first Pennsylvania German Groundhog Lodge was formed as a way to celebrate and maintain the Pennsylvania German culture and it held its first meeting the following year. It proved so popular that a number of other lodges formed over the years, eventually growing to almost 20 lodges across the state. At their annual meetings, only the Pennsylvania German Deitsch language was allowed to be spoken, with members being fined if they spoke English. The format for the meeting always follows a similar structure with a prayer, pledge of allegiance, a meal, skits, songs, and a speech. Stuffed groundhogs and/or groundhog statues are on hand and references to groundhogs are made throughout the evening. A weather report from the groundhog is involved and members call each other Brother Groundhog. Many of these lodges are still in existence although some have begun to allow English to be spoken without penalty. Some of the lodges also have outdoor public ceremonies on Groundhog Day.
Groundhog Day celebrations and forecasters eventually started spreading outside of Pennsylvania and even outside of the United States. In the 1940s, Sun Prairie in Wisconsin began their own Groundhog Day tradition, originally with fictitious groundhogs and eventually, Jimmy the Groundhog in the 1960s. Also in the 1960s, Dunkirk Dave began providing a Groundhog Day prediction in Dunkirk, New York. French Creek Freddie, a live groundhog, and Concord Charlie, a mythical groundhog, began providing predictions in West Virginia in the 1970s. Buckeye Chuck became Ohio's official Groundhog Day forecaster in 1979. Staten Island Chuck started providing predictions and occasionally biting mayors at the Staten Island Zoo in the 1980s. Wiarton Willy also started predicting in the '80s up in Canada. Even more prognosticators started springing up in the '90s and the first couple decades of this century, to the point that there are now around 100 forecasters providing annual predictions.
Other forecasters besides alive or dead groundhogs have been providing predictions over the last few decades. Lander Lil was a live prairie dog that started predicting in the 1980s and is now a prairie dog statue. Big Al is an alligator in Texas who is given food on Groundhog Day. If he eats the fast food, that means spring is coming, if not, that means it's going to be a long winter. Concord Casimir is a cat who eats pierogies and provides a Groundhog Day prediction. There are also puppets and mascots and animatronic groundhogs.
Else: Remember when we went to some groundhog places last year?
Michael: I do. We went to a couple actually.
Else: Mm-hm.
Michael: Was that fun?
Else: Yes!
Michael: So, we went to Schnogadahl Sammi's prediction and that was really early. Do you remember Sammi?
Else: Yeah.
Michael: Was Sammi a living groundhog?
Else: No.
Michael: That's right. Sammy was a stuffed groundhog, used to be living but is now a taxidermied groundhog. [clip of Schnogadahl Sammi's Groundhog Day ceremony] And if you remember, that ceremony was partially in Pennsylvania German and partially in English. And then we also went to see Poppy and Elliott's predictions and those were two living groundhogs.
Else: Yeah, they were cute.
Michael: Do you think that Punxsutawney Phil is the most powerful groundhog?
Else: Yeah.
Michael: [clip from film, Groundhog Day] Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the popular Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell film from 1993, Groundhog Day. The movie features Bill Murray's character, Phil Connors, getting sent to cover the Groundhog Day Festival in Punxsutawney and then getting stuck in a seemingly endless time loop until he learns to be a better person. [clip from film, Groundhog Day] The movie was well-received and continues to be popular and referenced to this day. It helped increase the visibility of the holiday and led to even greater interest in it from people around the world. We'll certainly be talking more about this movie in future episodes of this show.
So, Else, what do you like about Groundhog Day?
Else: I like how they predict the weather, and they find out if it's going to be a long winter or early spring.
Michael: What's your favorite Groundhog Day tradition that we have?
Else: I like when we make cupcakes and get to eat them.
Michael: What kind of cupcakes?
Else: Groundhog cupcakes. We decorate them to look like groundhogs.
Michael: What else do we do?
Else: Sometimes we go see the predictions.
Michael: Anything else?
Else: We have our groundhogs, and they predict the weather too.
Michael: What kind of groundhogs?
Else: Sock puppets.
Michael: How does Groundhog Day rank in your list of favorite holidays?
Else: Third. [starts giggling]
Michael: What?
Else: [still giggling] I'm sorry.
Michael: What's better than Groundhog Day?
Else: Actually, second. Christmas is the one holiday that I think is a little bit better.
Michael: Wait, what holiday did you just remove from your list?
Else: Halloween.
Michael: Do you think more people should celebrate Groundhog Day?
Else: Yes.
Michael: Does anybody else in school celebrate Groundhog Day like we celebrate Groundhog Day?
Else: [laughs] I don't know.
Michael: Probably not.
Else: Probably not but maybe some people.
Michael: You've seen the movie, right? Groundhog Day?
Else: Mm-hm! I remember some of it. His life keeps repeating over and over until he becomes a better person.
Michael: So, that was a pretty high-level overview of Groundhog Day. There's a lot more to get into and that's what I plan on doing on this podcast. I have a number of interviews lined up for the rest of this season. I'll be talking to some of the people behind different Groundhog Day forecasters, I'll be talking to an author who wrote about Groundhog Lodges. I'd also love to hear from you. You can send an email or voice message to podcast@countdowntogroundhogday.com.
Sources for this episode include Don Yoder's book, Groundhog Day, William Donner's book Serious Nonsense: Groundhog Lodges, Versammlinge, and Pennsylvania German Heritage, the documentary The Spirit of Punxsutawney and a ton of newspaper articles. Music for the show was written by the talented Breakmaster Cylinder, and show artwork is by Tom Mike Hill. If you'd like to learn more about Groundhog Day visit CountdownToGroundhogDay.com, we've got the most accurate and thorough list of Groundhog Day forecasters anywhere. We've also got lots of fun Groundhog Day activities and so much more. Thanks for listening and talk to you next year.
Else: Bye!
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Transcribed by Aveline Malek at TheWordary.com