Yes,  today is February 2nd (this year it’s 2/2/22), which America celebrates as Groundhog Day!

The tradition seemingly has its roots in the Catholic celebration called Candlemas, when church fathers distributed candles to their parishioners, representing how long and cold the winter was going to be.

In Germany, people added their own spin on this idea and selected an animal–originally a hedghog, badger, bear or fox depending on the region–to predict the coming winter weather. When Germans immigrated to America, many settled in what is now called the Pennsylvania Dutch country. There the animal changed to groundhogs or woodchucks, as they were much more plentiful than the other animals originally used.

On February 2nd, 1897, on Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, Groundhog Day was first celebrated with a groundhog as the prognosticating animal and proclaimed the official place for the weather prediction to take place. The tradition goes that when the groundhog comes out of its burrow, if he doesn’t see his shadow, he will remain outside and this heralds an  early spring. But if he sees his shadow, he will become scared, run back into his burrow, and we will have an addtional six weeks of winter weather.

The Groundhog Day celebration has been part of my life since I can remember. We would listen to the radio or television to learn if Punzsutaney Phil (the official groundhog) had seen his shadow or not. I’m certain a lot of people went through this ritual.

In the past almost 30 years, I’ve listened for the groundhog’s prediction, but I’ve also tried to watch the 1993 comic film, Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray. The premise, if you haven’t seen it, is that a weatherman who is sent to Punxsutawney to cover the groundhog prediction, is caught in a time loop in which he has to re-live groundhog day over and over again. It’s a fabulous film that, if you haven’t seen it, you should watch today. And if you have seen it, you should also watch it. Here’s the trailer to put you in the mood.

Happy Groundhog Day!