Fun Facts About Groundhog Day
Jonathon Andrews
It can come off as a total mystery as to why the world looks to a groundhog to see if spring is around the corner. If the groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil comes out of his little burrow and sees his shadow and rushes back to his home we’ll have six more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t see his shadow, spring is coming early.
- Like most modern traditions, it has roots with an old Christian holiday.
February 2nd was known as Candlemas, a clergy would distribute candles for winter, and these candles represented how long the winter would be. Germans took it a step further by selecting an animal to predict the weather, they chose a hedgehog. Once they immigrated to the United States, German settlers in Pennsylvania started using a groundhog instead because they were more plentiful.
- Punxsutawney Phil has been predicting when spring will arrive since 1886.
- Once the groundhog makes his prediction, people that watched the event went to Gobblers’ Knob to enjoy different groundhog delicacies. They even made a groundhog punch!
- Punxsutawney Phil isn’t the only groundhog making predictions.
North Carolina has Sir Walter Wally, Georgia has General Beau Lee, and Alabama has Birmingham Bill making predictions for the southern states. Even Canada uses a groundhog on February 2nd. They have Wiarton Willie making predictions in Bruce County in Ontario.
- The movie Groundhog Day made the festival Punxsutawney has annually really explode in attendance.
But the film was actually shot in Woodstock, Illinois. Before Bill Murray was caught in a time-loop, this festival has about 2,000 visitors. But after it was released, the local festivities host more than 30,000 guests.
- Punxsutawney Phil only has accurate predictions about 39% of the time, despite Groundhog Day event organizers boasting a 75%-90% success rate.
- Phil lives in a habitat attached to the Punxsutawney Public library, Wiarton Willie lives in a similar habitat.
- Pennsylvania Lottery’s mascot is a groundhog named Gus. Often times he refers to himself as the states’ second most famous groundhog, referring to Phil as the most famous.
- True believers of Groundhog Day lore, believe Phil has been the same groundhog since 1886 even though groundhogs usually only live around 6-8 years.
- Groundhogs can reduce their heartrate down to five beats per minute during their winter hibernation.
Sources:
Groundhog day facts. Math. (n.d.). Retrieved January 25, 2022, from https://www.softschools.com/facts/holidays/groundhog_day_facts/812/
History.com Staff. (2012, February 2). Groundhog day: History and facts. History.com. Retrieved January 25, 2022, from https://www.history.com/news/groundhog-day-history-and-facts
Mangal, N. (2019, January 29). 8 surprising things you didn't know about Groundhog Day. Good Housekeeping. Retrieved January 25, 2022, from https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/g3215/groundhog-day-facts/
