Groundhog Day: the day when you decide whether to bring your winter boots home next weekend or to keep them in your dorm room for a few weeks more. Why do we observe this strange tradition? Why do we care about groundhogs so much? What do groundhogs think of all this? Read on to find out the answers to two out of those three questions.
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1. Groundhog day dates back to 1887, and the Punxsutawney Groundhog club is super old.
The club was founded in 1887 and dates back to the first ever groundhog day on February 2, 1887 in Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, PA. To give you some perspective, 1887 was the same year that Senator Stanford decided to establish a university in California and also the year that Chico Marx (real name Leonard Martin) of Marx Brothers fame was born in New York.
2. Groundhogs live for 6-8 years. Except that one club's groundhog (pictured below).
According to their website, the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club's groundhog --named Punxsutawney Phil, of course -- is immortal. His secret? He drinks a magic potion at the town's annual Groundhog Picnic, which extends his life for another seven years.
3. Before people relied on groundhogs to predict the weather, they relied on badgers and bears.
German immigrants in Pennsylvania traditionally used larger furry creatures, like badgers and bears, to predict when winter would end. With "The Revenant" coming out this year, I estimate that Pennsylvania's remaining tradition-mongers will finally make the jump from bear-based weather systems to ones based on smaller/less volatile rodents.
4. "Looking for their shadow" is a groundhog euphemism.
Tradition says that if a groundhog sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter. Science says that groundhogs do not exist to enhance our weather forecasts. Instead, science says that groundhogs come out during this time of the year to observe cuffing season and look for mates. Then the groundhogs go back to hibernating, sleeping soundly in the knowledge that they have a friend to booty call when they come out again in March.
5. Canada's groundhog looks like this.
Wiarton Willie is Ontario’s groundhog celebrity. Actually, according to his website, Wiarton is Canada’s foremost “albino weather prognosticating groundhog.”
6. Groundhog day is totally a racket.
Phil sees his shadow 85 percent of the time. Tell me that is not rigged. Go on, try.
7. Some scientific evidence links a lack of shadows to colder temperatures.
As Peter Pan demonstrates, shadowless-ness means that things are not going the way you want them to. Similarly, shadowless-ness in the winter means an absence of clouds. Without the clouds’ insulation, winter will feel a bit colder, which I am guessing is not how you want winter to go.
8. Phil’s predictions are less accurate than flipping a coin.
The PA groundhog gets it right about 30-40 percent of the time. You would be better off guessing.
9. Most famous groundhogs have a human “inner circle” with a dress code.
Members of a groundhog’s inner circle wear groundhog-coloured suits and big top hats. Pretty snazzy, huh?
