The Origin of Groundhog Day

Most people have heard of the day in February where a groundhog tells the world if spring is coming early or not. However, many people do not know how this tradition was started or why this is even a tradition at all. To start, Groundhog Day originates from a Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if the groundhog sees its shadow it will retreat to its den, meaning that winter will persist for six more weeks. If the groundhog doesn’t see its shadow, then spring will arrive early. This tradition was started back in 1887 and it took place in a place in western Pennsylvania called Punxatawney, where it still takes place to this day.

Most people don’t entirely believe or understand this superstition, due to the fact that if the day is cloudy then the groundhog can’t see its shadow which would mean that spring is coming early. On the flip side, if the day is sunny, the groundhog will see its shadow. This makes it seem as if the superstition isn’t entirely true since the action of the groundhog is truly dependent on the type of day it is. Scientists have also done studies showing that there is no true correlation between the actions of the groundhog on February 2 and the arrival of spring or prolonged winter. Emily Boyer, a Pittsburgh University student says, “It’s just a tradition. You can’t really depend on a groundhog to tell you when spring weather is starting.” This statement makes it fair to assume that many people may not believe groundhog day actually works. However, the creation of this fascinating superstition does create some wild and interesting stories back when the tradition was originally formed.

Right after the first few annual Groundhog Days, the people of Punxatawney Pennsylvania did something that might be considered unexpected. They started to consider groundhogs as game and annually hunted for groundhogs to eat. The people who hunted groundhogs used to have an annual feast that took place in a lodge for a banquet. The people who participated in this action were members of the “Groundhog Club” and the hunt for the groundhog took place every year in late September. The “club” also had a drink called “groundhog punch” where the flavor was described as a “mix between chicken and pork”. Bob Pliszka, a former hunter says, “I wouldn’t eat groundhogs, I don’t think I would enjoy eating them, and I don’t consider them as food”. This was definitely an unusual thing to eat, even for hunters. However, this practice was discontinued pretty soon after it started since it did not gain enough outside attention from the rest of the community.

At first, Groundhog Day started as a smaller event only averaging about 2,000 per attendance. Then, when the comedic film Groundhog Day came out in 1993, the attendance rose to about 10,000. Over time, the popularity of the event has grown more and more each year, and the largest attendance ended up being about 40,000 people. This is about 800 percent of the original population of the town which is a shocking number. Today, the event was behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic which unfortunately left no crowd in attendance. However, there have been live streams of the event taking place, which allowed viewers at home and all around the country to watch, which for the future will increase the total number of viewers annually.