RBC | I have an idea for the Meeker Chamber of Commerce: We could piggyback on the Pennsylvania Feb. 2 Groundhog Day hype by naming our groundhog as the one and only “Meeker Whistlepig” or the “Flattops Weather Marmot.” The Master of Ceremony would wear a Stetson and rope the varmint from under a stump and predict when Trappers Lake would “ice out.” Hey, it makes as much sense as the movie “Groundhog Day”!
In the movie, Bill Murray plays an obnoxious TV anchorman trapped in an endless time loop. Each day he wakes and relives Feb. 2 over and over in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Eventually, the anchorman redeems himself as a caring person, wins the girl of his dreams and learns to spell Punxsutawney correctly.
Somewhere in the storyline, the groundhog loses star billing and Bill Murray emerges as a hero to the town. That is OK, the groundhog was never part of the original Celtic and Christian traditions anyway. Feb. 2 is the halfway point between Winter Solstice and Spring Solstice. The early pagans kept close track of these events. Later, European Christians declared Feb. 2 to be Candlemas. The Church had a habit of co-opting Pagan celebrations and overlaying new Holy Days such a Christmas. (no one knows the exact birthday of Christ). On Candlemas, parishioners would bring their candles to church to be blessed in the hopes of the candles would bestow blessings on the household.
Old English folk song:
“If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Come, Winter, have another flight;
If Candlemas bring clouds and rain,
Go Winter, and come not again.”
As you can see, there is no mention of any animals in the event. Germans are credited with adding a hedgehog to the prediction process. If a hedgehog emerged from hibernation on Feb. 2, there would be a “second winter” of six weeks or more.
The Pennsylvania Dutch (German immigrants) brought the tradition to America. The only problem was a lack of hedgehogs in America. In true American fashion, the groundhog (Marmota Monax) stepped forward with all four feet to take the hedgehog’s place in history.
Clymer Freas, editor of the local Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania newspaper, is credited with the idea of a Groundhog Day. Every year since 1887, up to 30,000 people have gathered outside town on Gobbler’s Knob to observe a rodent and clouds predict the weather. Some guy in a fancy top hat drags a groundhog named Phil out of a hole, risking bites and scratches and presents him to the sunlight… or lack thereof. Groundhog Day has been a media favorite ever since. I attribute this to dull Februarys. This winter month is filled with 28 or 29 slow news days every year. Old Clymer Freas died in Brooksville, Florida, in 1942. Smart man. He figured out how to beat the extra six weeks of winter in Pennsylvania.
Source: Groundhog.org; Findagrave.com
