Thousands of people gathered in Pennsylvania at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney awaiting the answer: Will the frigid winter continue for another 6 weeks? the famous Groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, emerged for his annual prediction at around 7:30am. He did not see his shadow! Bundled in their winter gear, the crowd cheered as Punxsutawney Phil predicts an early Spring for 2019.
“Faithful followers, there is no shadow of me and a beautiful spring it shall be.”
Phil has been in the weather forecast business for more than 130 years. In 1887, an editor of the Punxsutawney newspaper declared him America’s official weather-predicting groundhog. The rest is history…. Much of the country is in a polar freeze, but there is hope for an early spring.
Is Phil right? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Origins of Groundhog Day
Midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox is the ancient festival of Candlemas. Christians celebrate the presentation of the Jesus to the Temple as the Light of the World. Across Europe, the tradition arose to take candles to the church to have them blessed. According to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, the blessing would bring good tidings through the winter.
This evolved into today’s weather prediction. (I know this is a great leap of the imagination, but it happened.) If the sun comes out on February 2nd, the rest of winter would be bad. If cloudy, winter would end soon. In Germany, the tradition morphed into a hedgehog and his shadow. As the Germans settled in America, they brought the tradition with them but assigned the task the groundhog. Today, Punxsutawney Phil is our official mascot of Groundhog Day. Every February 2nd, when he fails to see his shadow (a cloudy day), he predicts an early spring.
Let’s hear it for Punxsutawney Phil, the prognosticator of prognosticators, the most famous meteorologist in the country.
Watch the Groundhog Day 2019 prediction
Check out the movie: Groundhog Day
Yes, Punxsutawney Phil has his own movie. He costars with Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell in this cult classic. Here we go again…