{"id":4237,"date":"2009-01-23T05:08:59","date_gmt":"2009-01-23T05:08:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.allwillstand.org\/?p=4237"},"modified":"2026-01-25T05:10:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T05:10:34","slug":"origins-of-groundhog-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.allwillstand.org\/index.php\/2009\/01\/23\/origins-of-groundhog-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Origins of Groundhog Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Origins of Groundhog Day\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Bible Study Supplement \u2013 US History Study\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Groundhog day is certainly not a holiday that many celebrate.\u00a0 Yet every year there is an event that takes place in Punxsutawney, PA.\u00a0 This has been going on since 1886.\u00a0 According to groundhog.org, the official website of the event, \u201cif Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather. If he does not see his shadow, there will be an early spring.\u201d\u00a0 This site admits that the origins of this event are from the Catholic Candlemas.\u00a0 So just what are the origins of Candlemas?\u00a0 This study will take a brief look into the origins of Groundhog Day.<\/h3>\n

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A Historical Look<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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\u201cFrom a very early, indeed unknown date in the Christian history, the 2nd<\/sup> of February has been held as the festival of the Purification of the Virgin, and it is still a holiday of the Church of England.\u201d1\u00a0 The popular name of Candlemas is derived from the ceremony which the Church of Rome dictates to be observed on this day; namely, a blessing of candles by the clergy\u2026\u201d2\u00a0 \u201cAt Rome, the Pope every year officiates at this festival in the beautiful chapel of the Quirinal.\u00a0 When he has blessed the candles, he distributes them with his own hand amongst those in the church\u2026The cardinals go first; then follow the bishops, canons, priors, abbots, priests, down to the sacristans and meanest officers of the church\u201d3<\/h3>\n

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\u201cIt appears that in England, in Catholic times, a meaning was attached to the size of the candles and the manner in which they burned during the procession; that, moreover, the reserved parts of the candles were deemed to posses a strong supernatural virture:<\/h3>\n

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\u2018This done, each man his candle lights,<\/h3>\n

Where chiefest seemeth he,<\/h3>\n

Whose taper greatest may be seen;<\/h3>\n

And fortunate to be,<\/h3>\n

Whose candles burneth clear and bright:<\/h3>\n

A wondrous force and might<\/h3>\n

Doth in these candles lie, which if<\/h3>\n

At any time they light,<\/h3>\n

They sure believe that neither storm<\/h3>\n

Nor tempest doth abide,<\/h3>\n

Nor thunder in the skies be heard,<\/h3>\n

Nor any devil\u2019s spide,<\/h3>\n

Nor fearful sprites that walk by night,<\/h3>\n

Nor hurts of frost or hail\u2019\u201d4<\/h3>\n

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There is more to be learned regarding this custom and it\u2019s relation to the Roman Catholic Church and the Purification of Mary.\u00a0 However the focus of this brief historical study is focusing on Candlemas\u2019s relationship to Groundhog Day, to where we will once again continue in that direction.\u00a0 \u201cThere is a universal superstition throughout Christendom, that good weather on this day indicates a long continuance of winter and a bad crop, and that its being foul is, on the contrary, a good omen.\u00a0 Sir Thomas Browne, in his Vulgar Errors, quotes a Latin distich expressive of this idea; which may be considered as well translated in the popular Scottish rhyme:<\/h3>\n

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\u2018If Candlemas day be dry and fair,<\/h3>\n

The half o\u2019 winter\u2019s to come and mair;<\/h3>\n

If Candlemas be wet and foul,<\/h3>\n

The half o\u2019winter\u2019s gane at Yule.\u201d5<\/h3>\n

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Germany had a couple of proverbial expressions about Candlemas day.\u00a0 One goes as follows, \u201cThe badger peeps out of his hole on Candlemas day, and when he finds snow, walks abroad; but if he sees the sun shining, he draws back into his hole.\u201d6<\/h3>\n

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\u201cThese notions, like Candlemas, \u201care derived from pagan times.\u201d\u00a0 In Martin\u2019s Description of the Western Islands, on Candlemas day \u201cthe Hebrideans observe the following curious custom: \u2018The mistress and servants of each family take a sheaf of oats and dress it up in women\u2019s apparel, put it in a large basket, and lay a wooden club by it, and this they call Brud\u2019e Bed; and then the mistress and servants cry three times, \u201cBrud is come; Brud is welcome!\u201d\u00a0 This they do just before going to bed, and when they rise in the morning they look among the ashes, expecting to see the impression of Brud\u2019s club there; which, if they do, they reckon it a true presage of a good crop and prosperous year, and the contrary they take\u00a0 as an ill omen.\u201d7<\/h3>\n

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The customer of Groundhog Day was brought to America by Great Britian and Germany.\u00a0 \u201cIn Germany it was the badger which broke its hibernation to observe the skies, in the United States the belief was transferred to the woodchuck.\u201d8\u00a0 So there is a brief history of Groundhog Day.\u00a0 This American take on Groundhog Day apparently has origins that go back to at least Candlemas in Europe and further elsewhere.<\/h3>\n

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References:<\/h3>\n

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    \n
  1. \n

    The Book of Days, Chambers, 1879<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n
  2. <\/li>\n
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  8. \n

    Unknown<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Origins of Groundhog Day\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Bible Study Supplement \u2013 US History Study\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0   Groundhog day is certainly not a holiday that many celebrate.\u00a0 Yet every year there is an event that takes place in Punxsutawney, PA.\u00a0 This has been going on since […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1328],"tags":[175,488,1334,1333,1332,1330],"class_list":["post-4237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-holiday","tag-all-will-stand","tag-allwillstand-org","tag-febuary-2nd","tag-groundhog","tag-groundhog-day","tag-origin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allwillstand.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allwillstand.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allwillstand.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allwillstand.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allwillstand.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4237"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.allwillstand.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4239,"href":"https:\/\/www.allwillstand.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4237\/revisions\/4239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allwillstand.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allwillstand.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allwillstand.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}