Groundhogs and Other Animals that Predict the Weather
Every year in February Americans celebrate a strange holiday that centers around an even stranger animal, the groundhog, and this year is no different. It’s Groundhog Day!
This seemingly bizarre holiday goes all the way back to the 1800s when the first Groundhog Day was celebrated in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. It all started when a local newspaper editor named Clymer Freas sold the idea to a group of groundhog hunters called the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. It would not become a nationally recognized holiday until the famous movie Groundhog Day (1993) starring Bill Murray made it popular. The way the holiday works is if Phil, the original groundhog, came out of hibernation and saw his shadow, then he’d be scared and return underground predicting six more weeks of winter. If he did not see his shadow, then we can look forward to an early spring.
Phil isn’t the only weather predicting animal out there though. Many other places around the world use animals to figure out what kind of weather they could be expecting.
Bears
February 2nd in Serbia and Romania are both days where citizens are anxiously waiting for bears to tell them what is to come next. In Serbia, it's called Sretenje and one tradition waits for a bear to come out of its winter hibernation and if it’s scared by its own shadow, then it will go back into hibernation for another 40 days. In Romania, the procedure is the same, but it’s called Stretenie, or Ziua Ursului (Day of the Bear).
Hedgehogs
During the time that Christianity was expanding, an ancient tradition called Candlemas was practiced where clergymen would bless and distribute candles needed for winter. Each candle represented how long and how cold the winter would be. In Germany this practice expanded into selecting an animal that would predict the weather and that animal would be the hedgehog. It was this concept that would later lead to German immigrants coming to the United States, specifically Pennsylvania, and switching the animal from the hedgehog to the groundhog which were abundantly available.
Frogs
Germany has another animal said to be blessed with clairvoyance, which is the frog. Kids would find a frog, put it in a glass jar, add a tiny frog ladder or blade of grass, and cover it with a cloth. If it climbs to the top of the ladder, then it’s supposed to be nice weather coming. If it stays at the bottom, then the frog is predicting rain.
Marmots
Even in Alaska they have their own weather predicting animal since groundhogs aren’t really available. Instead, then-governor Sarah Palin officially made February 2nd Marmot Day in 2009. Besides the change in animal, the practice is still the same however there can’t be too high of a prediction for an early spring for the artic state.
What’s your prediction for today: six more weeks of winter or early spring?! Share your predictions with us on social media as well as any other weather predicting animals you know!