Groundhog Day

Happy Groundhog Day

February 2 is the time of the North American (humorous) tradition of trusting a groundhog with the prediction of the length of the remaining winter.  Although such events are held in many locations across the US and Canada, the main one is in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where a groundhog named Phil is the center of attention of the townspeople and great many visitors.

The tradition started when European settlers from west-Germanic cultures, so-called Pennsylvania Dutch (=Diets, Deitch, Deutsch) combined their tradition of using a badger as a forecasting animal with the belief that a clear weather at the time of Candlemas prolonged winter. They called it Dachstag (=Badger Day).

The Groundhog Day became popular throughout North America and the delightful comedy of the same name with Bill Murray (about a day repeating over and over again) helped to popularize it even further.

Groundhog Day Movie Poster

Candlemas is a Christian holiday commemorating the "presentation of Jesus at the Temple". The practical consequence of that today is that many people take down their Christmas decorations at this time (even if they don't know why).

Different cultures (those influenced by Christianity) celebrate this time differently.

Germans may be thinking of badgers, but for the French cultures it is the day to eat crêpes (yum-yum).

Crepe Stack

Crepes Dressed

Similarly to other holidays, Candlemas is not only signalling a change in the season - the expectation of the spring - but is also a replacement of an older custom that got absorbed by the newly dominant culture. In this case it was the Celtic Imbolc festival that got replaced. Celts occupied much of western and central Europe for about 1000 years before they got (nearly) wiped out by the Romans and invading German tribes (and Slavs, too). But many of their customs stayed, perhaps in another form.

In the Czech culture, many old customs retained some of their old names and haven't acquired the "new" Christianized names, as is the case with English. Candlemas is called Hromnice, which is related to thunder. Even though the origins of the custom are similar, the prognostications can get a bit more complicated than those for Punxsutawney Phil.

Thunder

Few people know them at length, but many know this observation: "At Candlemas the day is an hour longer", which rhymes very nicely (in Czech), so it is easy to remember.

Some think that this is wrong, because at latitudes of about 50°N the day of February 2 is actually 1hr 20min longer (than at solstice, December 21). But they'd be wrong, because in the old days, for people working outdoors, twilight would count, too, and that difference is just about 1 hour.

Twilight

Here are some other folklore sayings:

  • Na Hromnice o hodinu více.
  • On Hromnice, the day becomes an hour longer (than on winter solstice).

  • Svítí-li slunce na Hromnice, bude zimy o šest neděl více.
  • If the sun is shining on Hromnice, there will be six more weeks of winter.

  • Hromnice-li jasné, čisté, potrvá déle zima jistě. Pakli sneží nebo hrímá, jaro jiste v blízku dlívá.
  • If Hromnice is bright and clear, winter is sure to linger. If there is snow or thunder, spring must be near.

  • Zelené Hromnice - bílé Velikonoce.
  • Green Hromnice - white Easter.

  • Vyjde-li jezevec o Hromnicích z díry, za čtyri neděle zpátky zas pílí.
  • If the badger comes out of his hole on Hromnice, he'll be rushing back four weeks later.

  • Na Hromnice husa po vodě - na velikonoce po ledě.
  • If the goose swims on water on Hromnice, it will walk on ice at Easter.

  • Na Hromnice zimy polovice.
  • Hromnice - the middle of winter.

  • Na Hromnice zima s jarem potkává se.
  • On Hromnice, winter and spring meet.

  • Pošmourné Hromnice sedláku milé jsou velice.
  • Cloudy Hromnice makes the farmer happy.

One of the bigger celebrations happens in Peru, in the festival of The Virgin of Candelaria,

Peru Festival Candelaria

which originated in Puno, at the shores of Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca, Puno, Peru

As is the case with many Peruvian festivals, it is a very colourful mixture of the original native Quechuan (etc) customs and the Christian beliefs brought in by the Conquistadors.


Overall, the Goundhog Day is meant to provide us with a little bit of mid-winter fun. 

Groundhog Joke

 

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