The history of Groundhog Day is found in the ancient depths of Celtic Europe. Early cultures identified the solstice and equinox in the annual patterns of time and space. They also noted the midway points between these phenomena. The beginning of February lies halfway between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox. In the British Isles, Gaelic people celebrated the return of longer days and the birth of lambs with a festival called Imbolc, honoring the goddess of fertility and fire, Brigid.
The Christian church, rather than ignore a popular pagan festival, adopted St. Brigid’s Day, February 1, as part of their holy calendar. Part of the ritual included an opportunity for people bring their candles to the church to be blessed and receive candles if they were needy. The day after St. Brigid’s Day became known as Candlemas. The Candlemas celebration spread throughout Europe.
In 1678, according to the Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs, John Ray wrote this verse:
If Candlemas day be fair and bright
Winter will have another flight
If on Candlemas day it be showre and rain
Winter is gone and will not come again.
The Dictionary of German Folk Belief indicates that in Germany, where Candlemas was known as Lichtmess, the day also was called “Dachstag” (Badger Day) because that animal’s activity on February 2nd was used to predict how much longer winter would persist.
A steady emigration from Germany of the people who would come to be called the Pennsylvania Dutch began in the 1720s. These people brought the Lichtmess tradition with them and the badger was replaced by the groundhog. Research by Don Yoder, whose 2003 book Groundhog Day is a thorough history of the tradition, indicates that the term “Groundhog Day” was first seen in print in Pennsylvania in 1840. In 1887, a group of men in the Borough of Punxsutawney, northeast of Pittsburgh, formed the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club and established an annual celebration using a groundhog to determine how soon winter would end. Their work continues to this day. It was not until the 1960’s that the groundhog began being called Punxsutawney Phil.
While Punxsutawney might be the most famous place in the world on the second of February, this unofficial holiday is celebrated throughout the United States and Canada. Punxsutawney Phil even has a competitor named Potomac Phil, a stuffed groundhog brought out at Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. on this date every year to predict the end of winter in our nation’s capital.
“Groundhog Day,” the 1993 movie starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell gave a big boost to Groundhog Day and continues to be a film people watch over and over again this time of year.