Groundhog Day- A Brief History

Anyone else wonder why we trust a groundhog to tell us what the weather will be?

Because apparently it's a big deal, according to CNN, we ARE getting 6 more weeks of winter.

I have no idea what this is, it's not like this lone groundhog can communicate whether or not it can actually see its shadow.

Unless EVERY groundhog can communicate with humans.... Wow, the first person to hear a groundhog talk must not have been okay for a while.

Alas, we may never know why groundhogs are such great meteorologists, but we think it's cool nonetheless.

Apparently groundhog day was originally Badger day where people in Germanic speaking areas of Europe would observe a badger coming out of its burrow. If the badger cast a shadow aka, it was sunny, then they would prolong winter by 4 weeks.

The earliest mention of Groundhog Day in the United States is an entry on February 2, 1840, in the diary of James L. Morris of Morganstown Pennsylvania.

From there it became a nationwide event, Punxsutawney Pennsylvania became the town to celebrate Groundhog Day.

Crowds as large as 40,000 gather each year to see if Punxsutawney Phil would see his shadow.

Unfortunately, this year had to be different due to the Coronavirus.

Much of the Inner Circle members were required to wear a mask. The groundhog was summoned at 7:25 am on February 2 and saw its shadow.

Now we have to deal with 6 more weeks of winter because this groundhog couldn't just lie to us.

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