Groundhog Day--Interesting Random Facts

One of the things I'm enjoying about being back in the United States is getting to enjoy all the special days on the calendar again.

Of course, some of the Western holidays have made it over to Asia.  Christmas, Valentine's Day, Halloween, and of course New Year's Day.

But other holidays are easy to forget about, and I usually completely forget about Groundhog's Day.  But my daughter has been learning about Groundhog Day at school, and she was telling me about it, and I thought, "Oh yeah, Groundhog Day.  That's a fun little holiday I've completely forgotten about."  So I did what I usually do whenever I remember something I haven't thought about for a while--I went to Wikipedia to try to get some more information.

Wikipedia states:

 It derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day and sees its shadow, it will retreat to its den and winter will go on for six more weeks; if it does not see its shadow, spring will arrive early. In 2025, the shadow was seen, auguring six more weeks of winter.^[3]

Interesting, I didn't know that was the history.  

Wikipedia goes on to say:

While the tradition remains popular in the 21st century, studies have found no consistent association between a groundhog seeing its shadow and the subsequent arrival time of spring-like weather.^[4] 

I thought it was funny that they felt the need to state that explicitly, but I guess you can't take anything for granted when you're writing for a broad audience.  (Actually, given my history of Wikipedia edits, I'm probably the last person who should complain about Wikipedia being too pedantic.)

Anyway, moving on...

The weather lore was brought from German-speaking areas where the badger (German: Dachs) is the forecasting animal, while in Hungary for example the bear serves the same purpose,^[5] and badgers were only watched when bears were not around.^[6] It is related to the lore that clear weather on the Christian festival of Candlemas forebodes a prolonged winter.

There you go! Some interesting context for you about this holiday.