Groundhog Day ( День Бабака)
Groundhog Day,
Punxsutawney Phil [Credit: David Maxwell—AFP/Getty Images]in the United
States and Canada, day (February 2) on which the emergence of the
groundhog (woodchuck) from its burrow is said to foretell the weather
for the following six weeks. The beginning of February, which falls
roughly halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, has
long been a significant time of the year in many cultures. Among the
Celts, for example, it was the time of Imbolc, observed in anticipation
of the birth of farm animals and the planting of crops, and February 2
is also the date of the Christian festival of Candlemas, also called the
feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin. During the Middle Ages
there arose the belief that animals such as the badger and the bear
interrupted their hibernation to appear on this day. If the day was
sunny and the animal saw its shadow, six more weeks of winter weather
remained. If, however, the day was cloudy, it was a sign that the
weather during the following weeks would be mild, leading to an early
spring. German immigrants to the United States carried the legend with
them, and in Pennsylvania the groundhog came to be substituted for the
badger.
Since 1887 an animal in Punxsutawney, in the west-central part of the
state, has been the centre of a staged appearance each February 2. In
what has become a media event, a groundhog designated Punxsutawney Phil
is the centre of attention of television weathermen and newspaper
photographers. Although promoters of the local festival surrounding
Punxsutawney Phil claim that the animals have never been wrong, an
examination of the records indicates a correlation of less than 40
percent. (Whether a groundhog does or does not emerge is thought to be
related to the amount of fat it was able to store before going into
hibernation.) Canada has a number of groundhogs that serve as weather
prognosticators, perhaps the best known being those portraying Wiarton
Willie, a white-furred, pink-eyed creature that has appeared on the
Bruce Peninsula, northwest of Toronto, since 1956.
