Well, today is Groundhog Day, so if you find yourself living the same day over and over again, don’t be too alarmed. Here at Going Green, we don’t take the meteorological predictions of a rodent too seriously—or at least only slightly less seriously than those of the local news weather forecasters. Groundhog Day as we know it can be traced back to Pennsylvania in 1841, although its origins date back much further to the celebration of the halfway point between the winter solstice (December 21 or 22) and the vernal, or spring, equinox (usually March 20 or 21). If you count the actual days, you may notice that February 2 isn’t exactly halfway between those two dates; this is because, prior to the transition from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar in the 16th century, the vernal equinox fell on March 16. (And, no, you still can’t balance an egg on its end.) Early Christians established February 2 as Candlemas Day, in which people would light sacred candles to hopefully fend off the darkness of mid-winter. Thus, there was an old English poem:

As the light grows longer The cold grows stronger If Candlemas be fair and bright Winter will have another flight If Candlemas be cloud and rain Winter will be gone and not come again A farmer should on Candlemas day Have half his corn and half his hay On Candlemas day if thorns hang a drop You can be sure of a good pea crop

By the way, European weather lore is also premised on the suspicion that mild winter weather is an omen of worse weather to come. They have a point... In addition to Candlemas, Groundhog Day also conflates other ancient European weather-related celebrations, which often involved some type of mammal being imbued with meteorological forecasting abilities. (By the way, not many people in the printing industry know this, but our own Dr. Joe Webb uses a large badger to forecast printing industry shipments. Now it can be told.) Pagan celebrations such as the Celtic Imbolc (February 1) and St. Swithun’s Day (July 15) also featured weather lore. (If it rained on St. Swithun's Day, it was said, then it would rain for 40 more days. Sometimes it just seems like it.) German settlers in Pennsylvania adopted these weather lore celebrations in the 18th and 19th centuries, with the first recorded mention of Groundhog Day being a February 4, 1841, diary entry by Berks County Penn., storekeeper James Morris:

Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate.

In its earliest form, Groundhog Day began with a groundhog hunt and culminated in a, um, barbecue. (If it was sunny, did you get six weeks of indigestion?) Needless to say, they don’t do that anymore. Punxsutawney, Penn., grew to become the largest and thus most iconic Groundhog Day celebration, with Punxsutawney Phil as the rodent du jour. (There is a whole Punxsutawney Phil lore that involves Groundhog Elixirs enabling the same groundhog to have made predictions for more than 120 years, even though groundhogs have a lifespan of not much longer than 10 years in captivity—when they’re not being hunted and roasted.) Other groundhogs around North America also make predictions, although Phil is said to be the final word on these matters. I’d be the first to admit that putting the lot of them on a stage and having them debate it would be entertaining. I was mildly curious how historically accurate the groundhog has been and to what extent any accuracy would be strictly the result of chance. (It would have to be.) The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has been keeping tabs on Punxsutawney Phil and, alas, the NOAA National Climatic Data Center’s data series does not confirm the predictive powers of a groundhog. Not that anyone really believes all of this, of course. It’s just a bit of fun in the middle of winter—when we all could certainly use a bit of levity. And next year, we hear that Phil is getting Doppler Radar.