From Candlemas to coattails: The story behind Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day brings tradition and fun and arrives on Monday, Feb. 2. Next week, all eyes will turn once again to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania and to our own backyards.

Will one of them peek out from a warm burrow to make this year’s weather forecast? According to folklore, if the groundhog doesn’t see its shadow then spring is right around the corner.

Groundhogs are true hibernators. They get cozy in late fall and sleep through winter. In many areas they don’t fully emerge until mid or late February, sometimes even March. So, your backyard groundhog probably won’t pop up next week to “check the weather,” but that won’t stop many of us from keeping an eye out.

Even if your neighborhood groundhogs stay tucked away, you can still join the fun. Tune in to TV networks or the official livestream from Pennsylvania next Monday to watch the ceremony from Gobbler’s Knob. If you’ve never seen it, it’s a treat. The hosts don top hats, coattails and pocket watches in a truly time-honored affair.

This quirky forecast actually stems from a much older tradition. Groundhog Day grew out of an old European church holiday called Candlemas Day.

On Candlemas, church leaders blessed the candles that people would use for light during the year. Then they watched the weather to guess how long winter might last, many believing that if Candlemas was sunny and bright, winter would drag on, but if the day was cloudy, spring would come sooner.

In some parts of Europe, a hedgehog was part of that tradition: if the hedgehog made its way out and saw its shadow, that meant more winter. If it didn’t, warmer days were on the way.

When German immigrants moved to Pennsylvania in the 1800s, they brought this tradition with them but swapped the hedgehog for a groundhog, as they found them all around their new homes.