“Groundhog Day” got high-jacked back in 1993 by the cult classic, featuring Bill Murray. He played a narcissistic, self-centered weatherman who gets trapped in a time loop on Groundhog Day. The day repeats again and again until he finally gets it right. Since then, when I hear the term Groundhog Day, the first thought that comes to mind is Deja Vu or more appropriately, “Same Shit, New Day.” Not whether it’s going to be a cold Winter or an early Spring.
“Well, what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn’t one today.” ~ Phil
Groundhog Day was actually a pagan ritual brought to the U.S. by German immigrants. It predates Christianity and falls in the middle of winter, halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Back in Germany, if a badger or other small four-legged saw their shadow on a sunny day in the middle of winter, it meant another 40 days of cold and snow.
Pagan Party Time
My thought is, they just needed a reason to have a big party. So they could eat too much and drink too much and O.D. on other various pagan endeavors. It was the middle of winter and something needed to be done to keep cabin fever at bay. It didn’t get it’s new name until it showed up in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania with the German settlers.
The first Groundhog Day celebration in Punxsutawney was a 136 years ago, in 1887. A newspaper man came up with the idea and sold the local movers and shakers on throwing a party. The Inner Circle still preside over the activities every February 2nd, when they head for Gobbler’s Knob to see if the little Whistle Pig will see his shadow or not. Tens of thousands of people show up for the festivities.
Spring is Coming
I’m pretty sure the same thing drives them as the pagan clans, thousands of years ago. They show up to eat too much and drink too much and O.D. on other various pagan endeavors. In hope that Winter will be replaced by Spring as soon as possible. Sunny winter days may be a sign of colder, drier air that might mean more cold and snow but studies suggest the groundhog has the same success rate as a coin flip.
“I’m not going to live by their rules anymore.” ~ Phil
A party though, in the middle of Winter to celebrate the days getting longer and the promise of Spring is a win, win. In Vermillion, Ohio the folks have their own 30 year old tradition of using the Wolly Bear Caterpillar to predict the weather and more importantly as a reason to have a big Party. Their Wollybear Festival draws more than a 100,000 pagans to town to partake in the ritual.