The spotlight will be on Gobbler91裸聊视频檚 Knob in western Pennsylvania early Friday morning, when handlers of a groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil will announce whether he saw his own shadow and predicts six more weeks of winter or an early spring.
Thousands are expected to attend that exploded in popularity after the 1993 Bill Murray movie, 91裸聊视频淕roundhog Day.91裸聊视频�
It91裸聊视频檚 part of a tradition rooted in European agricultural life, marking the midpoint between the shortest day of the year on the winter solstice and the . It91裸聊视频檚 also a time of year that figures in the Celtic calendar and the Christian holiday of Candlemas.
And in eastern and central Pennsylvania, where people of German descent have been watching the groundhog91裸聊视频檚 annual emergence from hibernation for centuries, there91裸聊视频檚 a tradition of groundhog clubs and celebrations that are independent of Phil.
Some dismiss the Punxsutawney event as , which they say forecast more accurate weather predictions. There have been weather-predicting groundhogs in at least 28 U.S. states and Canadian provinces, and less formal celebrations far and wide.
One thing it91裸聊视频檚 not: serious business.
91裸聊视频淲e know this is silly; we know this is fun,91裸聊视频� said Marcy Galando, executive director of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. 91裸聊视频淲e want people to come here with a sense of humor.91裸聊视频�
WHAT ARE THE HOLIDAY91裸聊视频橲 ORIGINS?
Celtic people across Europe marked the four days that are midway between the winter solstice, the spring equinox, the summer solstice and the fall equinox. What the Celts called Imbolc is also around when Christians celebrate Candlemas, timed to Joseph and Mary91裸聊视频檚 presentation of Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem.
Ancient people would watch the sun, stars and animal behavior to guide farming practices and other decisions, and the practice of watching an animal91裸聊视频檚 emergence from winter hibernation to forecast weather has roots in a similar German tradition involving badgers or bears. Pennsylvania Germans apparently substituted the groundhog, endemic to the eastern and midwestern United States.
Historians have found a reference in an 1841 diary to groundhog weather forecasts in early February among families of German descent in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, according to the late Don Yoder, a University of Pennsylvania professor whose 2003 book about Groundhog Day explored the Celtic connection.
Yoder concluded the festival has roots in 91裸聊视频渁ncient, undoubtedly prehistoric, weather lore.91裸聊视频�
WHY IS IT CELEBRATED IN PUNXSUTAWNEY?
Punxsutawney is an area that Pennsylvania Germans settled 91裸聊视频� and in the late 1880s started celebrating the holiday by picnicking, hunting and eating groundhogs.
Members of Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, organized in 1899, care for Phil at a customized space beside Punxsutawney Memorial Library 91裸聊视频� where there91裸聊视频檚 a window with a view into the creature91裸聊视频檚 burrow.
The Punxsutawney groundhog makes predictions but he91裸聊视频檚 not always predictable. The designated groundhog emerged before sunrise in 1929 and didn91裸聊视频檛 come out until late afternoon in 1941.
The Bill Murray movie caused such a resurgence of interest that two years after it came out, event organizers voiced concern about rowdy crowds drinking all night, people climbing trees and others stripping to their underwear. In 1998, a groundhog club leader wearing a $4,000 groundhog suit reported being assaulted by a half-dozen young men.
Alcohol is now prohibited at Gobbler91裸聊视频檚 Knob, Phil91裸聊视频檚 spot some 80 miles (123 kilometers) northeast of Pittsburgh.
DOES PHIL HAVE ANY COMPETITION?
The early festivities in Punxsutawney were followed in 1907 by folks in Quarryville, a farming area in Lancaster County in Pennsylvania91裸聊视频檚 southeastern corner. The roughly 240 members of the Slumbering Groundhog Lodge there report the winter forecast from Octoraro Orphie, or least via his well-preserved remains.
Quarryville lodge board chair Charlie Hart said the organization has dinners and other social events throughout the year but is largely focused on Groundhog Day.
Hart credits Orphie as a far better forecaster than Phil.
91裸聊视频淥ctoraro Orphie has never been wrong,91裸聊视频� Hart said. 91裸聊视频淭his is the 116th year, and in the previous 115 he has been right on the money every year.91裸聊视频�
WHISTLE PIGS ON THE MENU?
The groundhog is a member of the squirrel family and related to chipmunks and prairie dogs. It91裸聊视频檚 also known as a woodchuck, a whistle pig 91裸聊视频� or in the parlance of Pennsylvania Dutch, a language with German roots, a 91裸聊视频済rundsau.91裸聊视频�
Groundhogs are herbivores that are themselves edible to humans, although they are not widely consumed. Their lifespan in the wild is typically two or three years.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission says about 36,000 hunters reported killing more than 200,000 groundhogs last year.
Game Commission spokesperson Travis Lau found groundhog a bit stinky to clean, with thick skin.
91裸聊视频淚t was actually really good, no doubt about it 91裸聊视频� and to my taste, more like beef than venison is,91裸聊视频� Lau said. 91裸聊视频淭he whole family ate it and liked it, and everybody had apprehensions.91裸聊视频�
Some cooks advise groundhogs are best taken when they are young and after clover is in bloom, since a clover diet is thought to improve the meat91裸聊视频檚 taste.
WHEN DID CLUBS AND LODGES SPRING UP?
Starting in the 1930s, groundhog lodges opened in eastern Pennsylvania. They were social clubs with similarities to Freemasonry.
Intended to preserve Pennsylvania German culture and traditions, clubs would sometimes fine those who were caught speaking anything but their Pennsylvania Dutch language at meetings. They were traditionally all-male groups and 15 such clubs remain active.
They all share the unifying feature of a groundhog91裸聊视频檚 weather prognostication, said William W. Donner, a Kutztown University anthropology professor and author of 91裸聊视频淪erious Nonsense,91裸聊视频� a book about such lodges and other efforts to preserve German heritage.
91裸聊视频淚 think it91裸聊视频檚 just one of these traditional rituals that people enjoy participating in, that maybe take them away from modern life for 15 minutes,91裸聊视频� Donner said.
WILL PHIL GET IT RIGHT THIS YEAR?
Some well-meaning efforts have sought to determine Phil91裸聊视频檚 accuracy, but what 91裸聊视频渟ix weeks of winter91裸聊视频� means is debatable. Claims that a groundhog has or has not seen its shadow 91裸聊视频� and that it91裸聊视频檚 able to communicate that to a human 91裸聊视频� are also fair territory for skeptics and the humor impaired.
By all accounts, Phil predicts more winter far more often than he predicts an early spring.
Groundhogs are mostly solitary creatures who start to emerge in midwinter to find a mate. The science behind whether they can make any accurate weather predictions is problematic at best.
Among the skeptics is the National Centers for Environmental Information, within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The government agency last year with U.S. national temperatures over the prior decade and concluded he was right only 40% of the time.
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