February 2, 1887: Groundhog Day is first celebrated. It derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day and sees its shadow, it will retreat to its den, and Winter will go on for 6 more weeks; but, if it does not see its shadow, then Spring will arrive early.
The observance of Groundhog Day in the United States first occurred in German communities in Pennsylvania, according to known records. The earliest mention of Groundhog Day is an entry on February 2, 1840, in the diary of James L. Morris of Morgantown, in about halfway between Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania capital of Harrisburg, in an area known as "Pennsylvania Dutch Country." This was a Welsh enclave, but the diarist was commenting on his neighbors who were of German stock.
The first reported news of a Groundhog Day observance was arguably made in 1886, by the Punxsutawney Spirit newspaper in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, about 80 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. However, it was not until the following year, in 1887 that the first Groundhog Day considered "official" was commemorated there, with a group making a trip to the Gobbler's Knob part of town, to "consult the groundhog." People have gathered annually at the spot for the event ever since.
Clymer Freas (1867–1942), who was city editor at the paper, is credited as the "father" who conceived the idea of "Groundhog Day." Punxsutawney still hosts the largest celebration of the day, where crowds as large as 40,000 gather each year, nearly 8 times the year-round population of the town, which was 5,769 according to the 2020 U.S. Census.
Every February 2, at 7:25 AM local time, men in 1880s formal garb, including top hats and Winter coats, pull the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil in 1961, out of his hutch at Gobbler's Knob, and put him in position to see his shadow.
The group that runs the ceremony maintains the fiction that, as with Santa Claus, there has only been one Phil all this time since 1887. The average lifespan of a groundhog is around 3 years in the wild, but they can live up to 6 years. In captivity, groundhogs can live up to 14 years.
Usually, Phil does see his shadow. He saw it every year from 1903 to 1933, and again every year from 1951 to 1969. But, perhaps due to climate change, not seeing his shadow began to happen more often in the 1980s: From 1983 to 1999, a stretch of 17 years, there were 7 times when he didn't see it. Since the turn of the 21st Century, he has seen it every year except 2007, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2019 and 2020. (UPDATE: He did not see his shadow in 2024.)
There are other regional groundhogs. In New York City, the Staten Island Zoo is home to Staten Island Chuck. In 2009, Chuck bit Mayor Michael Bloomberg. In 2014, Bloomberg's successor, Bill de Blasio, dropped Chuck -- who died a week later. An autopsy cleared de Blasio of responsibility, saying the rodent's death had nothing to do with the drop. Funny how a groundhog can predict a longer Winter or an early Spring, but not a Fall.
How accurate are the predictions? Well, "an early Spring" is a vague description: It can mean anywhere from getting warm immediately to having Spring conditions not long before the scientific First Day of Spring, the Vernal Equinox, on March 21. Most sources give Phil and his regional counterparts less than a 50 percent accuracy rating, and sometimes as little as 25 percent.
The 1993 film Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray, set in Punxsutawney but, due to the town's comparative inaccessibility and inability to lodge an entire film crew, actually filmed in Woodstock, Illinois, a larger town about 60 miles northwest of Chicago. The film not only made the sort-of holiday more popular than ever, but also made the term "Groundhog Day" a metaphor for any event that seemed to be repeating over and over again.
*
February 2, 1887 was a Wednesday. Baseball and football were out of season. Basketball did not yet exist, and hockey barely did. So there were no scores on this historic day.
No comments:
Post a Comment