In the United States and Canada, the February 2 is celebrated on Groundhog Day (Groundhog Day), a tradition in which a groundhog indicates whether the winter will still be long and cold or whether spring will come soon. This method, that is, that of observing the movements of animals to predict weather conditions, has very ancient roots in various cultures around the world, but It has no scientific basis.
This “holiday” was born thanks to a group of German settlers who settled in Pennsylvania in the first half of the 19th century, and occurs in conjunction with the Catholic feast of Candlemas, which commemorates the presentation of Jesus at the temple in Jerusalem. Candlemas was also celebrated by pagans, but with a different meaning, because for the Celts the day indicates the end of winter and the beginning of spring (Imbolc).
The colonists involved in this story, who were mainly dedicated to agriculture, believed that if a marmot peeked out of his burrow on a sunny day but immediately returned because he was scared of his own shadow, then winter would continue for another six weeks. If instead she had come out of the den running around the meadows, the spring it would have been closer. This year, the marmot returned to his cave, and decreed that winter will continue.
However, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) explained that only 35% of Phil’s predictions turned out to be accuratewhile New York groundhog Chuck surpasses all others with an 85% accuracy rate on his predictions.
The ceremony continued for over a century, reaching our times. The most famous Groundhog Day is undoubtedly that of Punxsutawney (Pennsylvania), known above all thanks to “Groundhog Day” movie (1993), in which the protagonist – with very little desire and a hint of skepticism – goes to the city to follow this tradition. When he wakes up, the man continues to relive the same day, until his love for a woman breaks this sort of dream-nightmare.
After the success of the film in question, the ceremony of this town with a truly unusual name has become so well known that it is streamed. In Punxsutawney there is an official groundhog, Phil (name given in honor of King Philip of England), who always keeps the same name, but is not (obviously) the same groundhog from the first celebration in 1860. At the time, after the ceremony the groundhogs were hunted to eat them, but fortunately over the decades the hunting has become only a ritual and the groundhogs are released.
