The Biblical roots of Groundhog Day

Punxsutawney Phil is not the only weather predicting groundhog in America, just the most famous, thanks to Clymer Freas, who was the editor of the Punxsutawney Spirit newspaper in 1886. On February 2, 1886, Freas issued the following proclamation:

“Today is groundhog day and up to the time of going to press the beast has not seen its shadow.”

Freas also declared Phil to be the only true weather-forecasting groundhog. By the way, Phil's full name is; “Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather Prophet Extraordinary.”

How is this connected to the Bible?

Forty days after Jesus was born his parents took him to the Temple: "When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took Him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord." Luke 2:22. This would be February 2nd, according to our current calendar.

But how did the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple become Groundhog Day?

In John 8:12 Jesus said, "I am the Light of the world." It was not hard for people who lived by candlelight to make the connection. At some point in history people began bringing candles to the priests to be blessed 40 days after the celebration of the birth of Christ. The ceremony was called, "Candle Mass."

But how many candles should one bring to be blessed? You wanted enough to make it through the rest of the winter, right?

This is where the need for a weather prediction became necessary. Long term weather predictions are hard enough with modern technology. Centuries ago it was primarily based upon superstitions. In Germany they used hedgehogs:

"Wenn der Igel Lichtmess seinen Schatten sieht, so Kriecht er wieder auf sechs Wochen ins Loch.“

Loosely translated;

"If the hedgehog sees his shadow at Candlemas, he will crawl back into his hole for another six weeks"

German settlers in Pennsylvania continued the tradition, although they switched from hedgehogs to groundhogs, which were plentiful in North America.

Note the connection to Candlemas Day. Also note the "reverse psychology." If the sun is shining on 2/2 we will have 6 more weeks of winter.

How accurate is that groundhog anyway?

According to the Stormfax Almanac the groundhog's seasonal forecasting accuracy is somewhat low, having been correct only 39% of the time.