Groundhog Day never meant much to me — I enjoyed watching the movie when I was a kid, but the holiday usually passes me by without much notice.
Don’t get me wrong, I love fun and quirky traditions. I don’t love groundhogs (don’t get me started), but my vendetta with this particular rodent doesn’t have much to do with my apathy about Groundhog Day celebrations. It just never struck a chord with me.
Recently I learned a little more about the roots of the holiday and similar traditions celebrated in other parts of the world, which piqued my interest.
The holiday falls midway between the winter solstice and spring equinox. For farmers (and those of us who don’t love winter) it can be an important and restless time. Some of us are desperate to know — how much longer will this last?
Groundhog Day falls on the Christian holy day of Candlemas and coincides with an ancient Roman holiday of lights.
Feb. 2 is 40 days after Christmas, and following Jewish custom, Mary went to the temple to be purified after birth and to present Jesus to God. The Christian Church celebrated the occasion as a holy day, and incorporated pagan traditions (of celebrating light midway through winter) by using this day to bless candles for use in the year ahead.
I also read that Christians should not put away manger scenes and other Christmas decorations until Candlemas. I was surprised to learn that Christmas can extend even beyond Twelfth Night — especially since I previously thought I was well versed in how long we could stretch out the Christmas season and celebrations.
Apparently the Pennsylvania Dutch brought the shadow seeking idea from Germany, where the tradition was to look for a badger emerging from hibernation. Just as with Punxsutawney Phil, if the badger saw a grey snowy day he would come out to enjoy the coming of spring weather, but if he saw sun he would retreat to nap for the rest of winter.
In other countries around Europe, other hibernating animals were looked to for weather advice, although often the prediction was flipped – a nice sunny day meant an early spring.
Other traditions for the day include lighting all the candles in one’s house — a reference I found on this said it was to keep evil spirits away during the winter nights.
Early references to Candlemas mention its date as Feb. 14, which is 40 days after the Epiphany in Christian tradition. Before revision of our current calendar, January 6 was Jesus’s birthday, and after after the calendar change, celebrated as the last day of Christmas and the day the Three Kings visited the infant. Candlemas was moved to the second of February to reflect 40 days from Christmas.
The shift from Feb. 14 again piqued my interest. I wondered if the history of celebrating Candlemas has any connection to Valentine’s Day — I decided this is a rabbit hole for another day.
Since learning more about the history and traditions of Groundhog Day I am much more interested in taking note of the day.
I still don’t think a groundhog knows any more than we do about the coming weather, but I like the idea of noting weather patterns. I also like crepes and candles, and will use the coming days to make candles for my family to use throughout the year.
ALDONA BIRD is a journalist, exploring possibilities of local productivity and sustainable living in Preston County.
