What’s the Deal with Groundhog Day?
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
According to the folklore:
Groundhog Day is a day celebrated on February 2. If it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, then spring will come early; if it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and the winter weather will continue for six more weeks. ~ Wikipedia
Where did such nonsense come from and why do we believe it to be true? Is it that people simply entertain the idea because it creates conversation and brings people together?
Unlike many customs, groundhog day is fairly recent in history. The earliest record found in a diary entry, dated February 4, 1841, of Berks County, Pennsylvania.
The celebration began as a Pennsylvania German custom in southeastern and central Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries. Some sort of weather lore, about a badger and a sacred bear. It also has similarities to a Pagan festival of Imbolc. Whatever the true reason is irrelevant and probably a bunch of non-sense.
What’s interesting is why Groundhog day celebration continues today
According to Groundhog Day organizers, the rodents’ forecasts are accurate 75% to 90% of the time. However the National Climatic Data Center has described the forecasts as
on average, inaccurate
The groundhog has shown no talent for predicting the arrival of spring, especially in recent years.
There is obviously no scientific correlation between groundhogs and the weather, and yet it’s still an event today. Thousands of people come out so see the rodents in city’s across North America. My question is WHY?
My best guess is that it brings people together and that’s not a bad thing. Communities have built civilization for centuries. If you have a better answer, put it in a comment below, I would love to read it.
If these communities are coming together, I’m betting it’s for fun and not to see if we need to endure another 6 weeks of Winter. So let’s have fun with it. Here are some of most famous groundhogs of our day:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/slideshow/groundhog-day-2013-shadows-18381353
Source for this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day
Enjoy Groundhog day! Why? I’m not sure!