Phil the Groundhog

Exactly one month and one day has passed since Phil the Groundhog was awakened from hibernation, popped his sleepy head out of a snuggly stump and looked around for his shadow. The theory is that if he sees a shadow we’re in for another six weeks of wintry weather including weeks of torrential rain in So Cal.

Groundhog Day sounds like an ancient sacrificial ritual that once featured feasting on the forecaster but has now evolved into a fun-filled carnival with national media coverage, complete with GPS coordinates provided by the event organizers.

The best known of the Ground-hog Day personalities is Punxsutawney Phil who hibernates in Punxsutawney, Pa.

Phil, our star woodchuck, and roughly 18 of his ancestors since 1887, have seen their shadows 95 times and not seen their shadows 14 times. There are no records for nine years during the late 1890s because someone ate the critters and fashioned Daniel Boone hats from the fur.

Woodchucks (a.k.a. groundhogs and whistle-pigs) are game animals; there are recipes available for pan fried, slow roasted, flame sautéed and crock pot stewed entrees that can be quite tasty during those extra six weeks of cold weather.

Supposedly our German ancestors brought from the old country the tradition of celebrating Candlemas on Feb. 2, which is the exact midpoint between winter and spring.

Candlemas—similar to Candle Mass—was a tradition in which candles were blessed and given to people for placement in their window(s) providing light in the middle of a dark winter.

There are many poems that refer to Groundhog Day such as this one from Germany:

For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day,

So far will the snow swirl until May.

For as the snow blows on Candlemas Day,

So far will the sun shine before May.

Punxsutawney comes from the Delaware Indian name for the "town of the sand flies."

The chamber of commerce settled upon the "Weather Capital of the World" for a more positive sound bite.

Phil is also known as the "Weather Prophet Extraordinary."

According to legend, Phil’s predecessors were named "Pete." Sounds a bit odd, but so does Phil for a groundhog.

The true history of the name is not documented. According to Alan Freed of webmaster@ontv.com, who handles questions about Punxsutawney, Phil may have been named after King Phillip.

Then again for a while Br’er Groundhog was in vogue.

That which we call a woodchuck by any other name doesn’t matter. Phil is the Big Wood Chucker.

Smaller Groundhog Day celebrations with colorfully named runner-ups take place primarily in zoos across the country.

There’s General Beauregard Lee in Georgia, French Creek Freddie in West Virginia, Buckeye Chuck in Ohio, Stormy in Illinois and Wiarton Willie in Canada.

The big break for Punxsutawney came in 1993 with the release of the movie "Groundhog Day."

Even though the movie was filmed in Woodstock, Ill., it’s a featured event during the festival. It’s shown several times to the more than 30,000 fans (more than five times the population) that trek to the little town during the week’s family-oriented festivities.

The Inner Circle has 21 members who are local businessmen responsible for producing the unique holiday and caring for Phil and his wife, Phyllis, in the climate-controlled Groundhog Zoo in downtown Punxsutawney.

Ron Ploucha, the Inner Circle Stump Warden and high school math teacher, told me that Phil is placed in the heated stump on Gobbler’s Knoll at midnight and aroused at 7:30 a.m. by Bill Deeley.

Deeley is the Inner Circle Phil handler and a funeral director. He determines if Phil sees his shadow or not and directs the official scroll to be read to the large throng of faithful followers:

". . . Changing seasons is a wonderful thing. Now, it’s Ground Hog Day and we think of spring. . ."

To find out if Phil did or did not see his shadow and if we’re going to have more rain, go to www.PunxsutawneyPhil.com.