WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF GROUNDHOG DAY?

Horniness and hunger are the actual elements that determine a groundhog’s behavior when it emerges in winter from months of hibernation.  Quite simply, if on awakening a groundhog is sexually aroused and famished, he’ll stay above ground and search for a mate and a meal.  If, on the other hand, these appetites are still dulled from his winter nap, he’ll return to his burrow for a six-week doze.  Weather has nothing to do with it.

German farmer folklore dating back to the 16th century dictated that if the day was sunny and the groundhog was frightened by his shadow back into hibernation, then farmers should refrain from planting crops, since there would be another six weeks of winter weather.  Scientific studies have dashed that lore.  The groundhog’s accuracy in forecasting the onset of spring, observed over a 60-year period, is a disappointing 28%.

However, the original animal of German legend was not a groundhog, the cute 15-inch-long woodchuck with coarse red-brown fur we all know and love.  Rather, it was a vicious badger which was a 16 to 20-inch-long, broad-backed, carnivorous mammal with thick, short legs, and long claws on its forefeet.

The switch from badger to groundhog did not result from mistaken identity.  German immigrants who settled in the 19th century in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, about 85 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, found that area had no badgers.  What it did have, though, was loads of groundhogs, so the immigrants conveniently fitted the groundhog into their folklore.

Weather did come to play one key role in the legend.  At Punxsutawney’s latitude, a groundhog emerges from its hibernating burrow in February.  Had the immigrants settled a few states south, where it’s warmer, they would have found the groundhog waking and coming above ground in January; in the upper Great Lakes region, the cold delays his appearance until March.  Thus, it was the latitude at which the German immigrants settled that set Groundhog Day as February 2.

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February 2nd, 2010 | Tags: Groundhog day, Holiday origins | Category: Daily Blog, Holidays