The famous Pennsylvania groundhog will predict the weather this week.
At sunrise on February 2nd, Punxsutawney Phil will emerge in front of a vast crowd at Gobbler’s Knob to predict whether there will be an early Spring or six more weeks of winter.
The tradition of utilizing an animal to predict the weather can be traced back to European origins. In parts of Europe that were Celtic in ancient times, but later inhabited by Germanic speakers, Germans believed the weather was predicted by a badger.
The first mention of groundhogs predicting the weather on February 2nd was found by author Don Yoder to be a diary entry for that day in 1840, written by a Welsh American storekeeper in Pennsylvania. The entry said, “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.”
With most of Pennsylvania Dutch immigration occurring between 1727 and 1775, it is believed that Groundhog Day was created during that time period.
With the evolution of Groundhog Day beginning in the pre-Christian era of Western Europe, the Celtic cultural force was predominant in the region. The Celtic year followed four dates as “turning points” of the year, one of them being February 1st according to Yoder. Those dates were so essential to Europeans at the time that they were adopted by Christianity when the religion took hold in Western Europe.
May 1st became May Day, November 1st became All Saints’ Day, and the February 1st holiday was pushed to the following day and eventually became known as Groundhog Day.
Before Groundhog Day, the February holiday was known as ‘Candlemas’. Christians brought candles to church to be blessed as a sign of light and warmth for the winter. Each holiday was a “turning point” that reflected the weather and a change in the seasons, according to Yoder. This was essential to the agriculture industry in the region.
Before Phil was predicting the weather, the earliest Groundhog Days of the 19th century involved the groundhog being served as a local dish after making his prediction.
The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club maintains that there has only been one Phil since 1886. They say he is given an “elixir of life” every year at the summertime Groundhog Picnic, which “magically gives him seven more years of life”.
The annual festival in Pennsylvania, the best known celebration of the holiday, traces its origins back to 1887, when members of the local Elks Lodge first consulted with a groundhog about the weather.
In the 1960s, the famous groundhog was named “Punxsutawney Phil”. He communicates his weather prediction to the “Inner Circle”, a group of men wearing formal suits and top hats.
Phil has a partner named Phyllis, and the pair welcomed two baby groundhogs in March of 2024. Their names are Sunny and Shadow. According to the Groundhog Club, Phil is the first groundhog to have pups since 1886. Punxsutawney Phil has seen his shadow 108 times over the years. He will make his 2025 prediction this week in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania.
