Happy Groundhog’s Day! I really never knew what a groundhog was because in Minnesota, we call them woodchucks. I’m kind of ambivalent towards the whole species, they are rodents and I don’t like that, but they are covered in fur, so I do like that.
They are also known as whistle-pigs or in some areas as the land beaver. Which brings me back to when I was little and my older sister tried to convince my parents we had beavers in our yard (it was a woodchuck). My parents said, “We need water to have beavers.” My sister replied, “We do have water!” (making reference to the blue plastic pool all children of the ‘80’s had). She went on to become a beaver herself. Attending Bemidji State University in northern Minnesota.
Groundhogs (or woodchucks) are omnivores just like people and they like to hibernate, I just wish I could… Other people love groundhogs too, not just me. The most popular of the groundhogs are Wiarton Willie and Punxsutawney Phil, who are part of celebrations in Ohio and Pennsylvania, respectively. A famous southern groundhog, General Beauregard Lee, is based out of Atlanta and his forecasts are very popular in the Southeast. Thousands of people came out to this year’s celebration in PA.
It all started with those darn groundhog-loving Germans (I’m German too…) Their tradition holds that if a hibernating animal sees its shadow on Feb. 2 – the Christian holiday of Candlemas – winter will last another six weeks. If no shadow is seen, legend says spring will come early.
Here's our little friend in action today:
Hollywood loves groundhog’s too. Thank you Bill Murray… “Well, it's Groundhog Day... again... and that must mean that we're up here at Gobbler's Knob waiting for the forecast from the world's most famous groundhog weatherman, Punxsutawney Phil, who's just about to tell us how much more winter we can expect.”
Ancient peoples loved woodchucks too. The name comes from an Algonquian name for the animal, wuchak. Nonetheless, children all over the U.S. use the animal as a furry focal piece to tongue twisters:
“How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
A woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could
if a woodchuck could chuck wood!”
Occasionally people say:
“How much ground would a groundhog hog
If a groundhog could hog ground?”
This year our furry friend Phil saw his shadow, which I’m noticing is a common trend… Since 1887, Phil has seen his shadow close to 100 times, he hasn’t seen it just 14 times. The last time he didn’t see his shadow was in 1999.
So 6 more weeks of winter for us….
