Groundhog day again – Wake up Phil!
January 28, 2018Do you love or hate the groundhog ?
To quote a line from one of our favorite Bill Murray movies, Groundhog Day “It’s Groundhog Day … again” or at least at the time of writing this… it’s almost Groundhog Day… again. We’ve got mixed feelings about the groundhog. On one hand there’s Groundhog Day, which we look forward to all winter on the off chance of another early spring fantasy. On the other hand the chunky rodent has an affinity for eating the leaf babies in our garden and leaving it to look as though a mini tornado with teeth twisted through our veggies and flowers.
Why do we celebrate Groundhog day anyway
You might know this one if you have Pennsylvania Dutch or German heritage, or you might have heard it before, but in case you haven’t here’s why we do this to ourselves. See, way back in the 1800’s when German speaking Settlers came to the United States they brought their idea of Dachstag Badger Day. But where did they get the idea? Here’s where we merge religion, history and weather science (odd bedfellows to be sure).
Religion
In Christian religions there is a special feast day called Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation, or the Feast of the Purification which is to fall on, you guessed it, February 2nd. Presentations and sermons on the topics of the Presentation and the Purification go as far back as 4AD. Theologically speaking, the rite of Presentation was the presentation of a male child to the church to ensure that they have been circumcised (call that a post op checkup) by his Mother who was to be purified, a re-baptism of sorts (let’s also call that a post op checkup), thirty three days after circumcision. If you think about it, this was a great way for Mom and Son to get a health check to make sure everything was going okay. Baby’s clean, healed up and growing, check. Mom’s not depressed and is otherwise healthy, check. February 2nd is Forty days after Christmas, so this all fits pretty well. No Groundhog here though.
History
Historically speaking Groundhog Day has it’s deepest roots in Gaelic Ireland where we see accounts back to the 10th century noting a mid winter celebration called Imbloc where we see the first mentions of animals predicting the weather.
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‘Thig an nathair as an toll |
The serpent will come from the hole |
The brown Day of Bride here refers to St. Brigid’s day tying the Gaelic Imbloc back to Christianity.
This started to pick up popularity in other parts of Europe with other weather predictors. Badgers, Hedge hog, Bears, Bear rats and what have you. But the basic idea stayed the same. Nice weather on February 2nd meant a longer winter season, and poor weather on February 2nd meant a shorter one. The length obviously dictated by your actual climate. In Germany, for instance it was four weeks, while the Pennsylvania Dutch made it six.
Science
Trust it to good Ol’ science to explain everything, or at least try, on account of scientific fact is only fact until it’s proven otherwise. Now then, applying scientific method (or what they had of it between 3AD and the 10th Century) the scholars at the time could take three pieces of information to build their theory.
- Evidence – Animals emerging from hibernation
- Historical data – Clear weather in the winter is cold, cloudy weather in the winter is warmer
- Frequency – A Calendar or astronomical common event, Candlemas, Imbloc, The Presentation, The Purification and St. Brigid’s day
As it turns out animals are not great predictors of the weather and you could get similar results as our beloved groundhog by flipping a coin. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association NOAA Phil has around a 50/50 shot at getting his prediction correct.
So why celebrate Groundhog Day then ?
There’s still reason to celebrate. Old habits die hard, and it’s a great time to start planning for warmer weather. If you’re a gardener now’s a great time to get things going for the coming spring season. Here are some of our favorite posts on mid-winter things you can do around Groundhog Day
Love the groundhog for being a sign of hope or hate the groundhog for terrorizing our garden February 2nd is just forty five days away from the Spring Equinox on March 20th. Depending on your hardiness zone that’s about time to get outside in the garden, get some dirt under your fingernails and take care of your leaf babies.
