Thousands of spectators crowded Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, on Friday to hear the President of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club translate Phil’s prediction. The groundhog delivered some good news to anyone anxious for warmer weather; an early spring is on its way! 

The spectacle has become widely recognized and popular after the 1993 Bill Murray film, “Groundhog Day,” but its origins go all the way back to German farming traditions carried over by the Pennsylvania Dutch in the nineteenth century. 

Agriculturists discovered early on that the sun and moon could be used to mark the transition of the seasons. The Farmer’s Almanac helpfully reminds us that “the astronomical start of a season depends on the position of the Earth in relation to the Sun. More specifically, either a solstice (for winter and summer) or an equinox (for spring and autumn) marks the start of each season.” Early Europeans would subsequently develop traditions of spring preparation about halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Western religious beliefs slowly cemented the time of preparation with the holiday on Feb. 2, called Candlemas. The symbolic purpose of the holiday is to honor the Christ child’s presentation at the Temple, but colloquially, it was a time of settling debts and shaking off those winter blues.  

If the sun, moon, and priests were not enough to warn the early Germans that spring was coming, the local badgers would. Around February, the burrowing mammals leave their dens and start foraging again. The badger’s appearance was not only a sign that the forest floor was once again fruitful, but it was also an invitation to the villagers to grab a weapon and go hunting. As distasteful as it may seem to a modern palate, badger was good eating in those days.  

When the groundhogs of Pennsylvania watched the land get settled by large populations of Germans in the nineteenth century, they had no way of knowing they would become the mascot of long-held, foreign traditions. It did not take long for the Pennsylvania Dutch to discover that the groundhogs displayed similar habits to their beloved European badgers. Eventually, groundhog was on the menu. 

Perhaps to the relief of the rodents, the Germans held a strange reverence for the groundhog, ultimately championing it as the face of social clubs. Though the purpose of the clubs had originally been hunting, as America incorporated more and more groups of diverse immigrants, the Pennsylvania Dutch found pride and comradery in what became known as “groundhog clubs” (Yoder). 

The first official Groundhog Day was reported in a Punxsutawney newspaper in 1886. Since that original celebration, only 10 years have gone without a reported prognostication from the prophetic groundhog. It is also worth noting that since the creation of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club back in 1886, the death of the original hog, Phil, has not been reported, leading one to presume that the creature is 138 years old (Yoder). 

If the prediction wise, old Phil made this year is not to your liking, relax. According to the Stormfax Weather Almanac, he is only correct about 39% of the time.  

Yoder, Don. 2003. Groundhog Day. Stackpole Books. 

Quindelynne Davis is a Dakota Student General Reporter. She can be reached at [email protected].