Unique among the states, Pennsylvania enjoys direct connections to two different national holidays. There is of course the 4^th of July, which was invented in Philadelphia on the 4^th of July. And then there is Groundhog Day in which Punxsutawney; Jefferson County becomes, for one day, the bright shining center of the universe

So…what is Groundhogs Day, why do we celebrate it and where did it come from?

Groundhog’s Day, February 2, occurs on or near the first of the four cross quarter days. A cross quarter day is the halfway point between the solstice and the equinox. 

The four cross quarter days are natural times to have feasts and celebrations and our ancient ancestors, pagan and Christian, jumped in with both feet.

What we moderns mostly observe as Groundhog’s Day is traditionally called Candlemas.  Candlemas - formally called the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, and/or the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin - was traditionally the day that the priest would bless all the candles to be used in the church for the upcoming year. (The “mas” suffix is Old English and means feast day or celebration: Candlemas = feast of candles.)

The Church is rather adamant that Candlemas has nothing to do with the cross quarter day, and that’s is placement is based on February 2 being the 40^th day after Christmas. According to Mosaic law a woman after giving birth to a son was considered ritually “unclean” for seven days and additionally she would have been required to remain in the “blood of her purification” for another 33 days. It was after that period of 40 days that a woman would attend the temple for a ritual purification. Her son would also be presented there for the first time. (That Mary, of all women, needed “purification” seems somewhat odd and even redundant. Kind of like washing soap.)

Yet there are skeptics who rightly point out that if the church superimposed it’s own February 2 feast on top of an existing pagan ritual it wouldn’t be the first time.

And before Candlemas there was indeed the Celtic festival of Imbolc (pronounced IM olk) meaning “in the belly,” as in a pregnant ewe, but also symbolic of the earth right before spring. It is associated with the goddess Brigid - who became transmuted into St. Brigid and whose feast day is February 1.  Imbolc was much concerned with fertility and and the coming of spring. According to Gaelic folklore the hag goddess Cailleach would gather firewood on Imbolc. If she intended to prolong winter she would make the day bright and sunny the better to gather more firewood. If Imbolc turned out mean and overcast it meant that Cailleah was asleep in her den and that there would be an early spring. Sound familiar?

Most Groundhog’s Day  reference sources site this bit of Scottish verse:

If Candlemas be   fair and bright,
winter has another flight.
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
winter will not come again.

Our modern Groundhog’s Day traditions are from the German’s who settled Pennsylvania. Their Candlemas traditions had a badger as weather forecaster; finding no badgers they substituted a groundhog. ("Groundhog" and "Woodchuck" are interchangeable names for a large ground squirrel known as a marmot.)  The earliest known reference is from the Berks County Historical Society. On February 4, 1841,  James Morris, a storekeeper in Morgantown wrote in his diary, “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 1887, Clymer H. Freas, editor of the Punxsutawney Spirit Newspaper in came up with the idea of a "Punxsutawney Groundhog Club." Although the original members were at first  concerned with hunting and eating the little fellas,  Mr. Freas reintroduced the Candlemas tradition of weather prognostication. It was he who gave Punxatawney Phil his name and set him and his little town on the road town to greatness.The Punxsutawney Spirit is still in print and a large ground squirrel named Phil is Punxsutawney's first citizen and the worlds most famous weatherman.