Groundhog Day

This picture is from the movie 'Groundhog Day'

This picture is from the movie ‘Groundhog Day’

Jozie Reed

In Punxsutawney, Phil came up out of his hole on February 2nd and decided we’re going to have 6 more weeks of winter. 

A USA Today article agrees with believing in Phil’s predictions defies common sense. Groundhogs day has been a tradition for over 135 years and this year marked the 106th time groundhog Phil has seen his shadow. This annual spectacle is held at Gobblers Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.  The tradition is that if Phil comes up and sees his shadow we will have six more weeks of snowy winter. If he comes up and doesn’t see his shadow we will have an early spring. If Phill sees his shadow or not depends on if it’s a cloudy day or a sunny day so you can definitely say him seeing his shadow isn’t scientific. 

The first time groundhogs day was in the papers was in 1886, ever since then they have been feeding Phil a special diet that will keep him coming back.  This year presented another “first” with covid making it so we can’t all gather around at Gobblers Knob. They did a virtual groundhog

This picture is from the movie ‘Groundhog Day’

day and some people took it to the extreme, got up, made a fire, and sat outside in the snow watching the virtual groundhog day. 

In Punxsutawney, there is a group of people called the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. They are the ones who feed Phil this special diet. They say this diet involves something called ‘groundhog punch’ which they claim keeps him immortal. 

They feed him this every year around groundhogs day. Ever since this tradition started Phil has not missed a Groundhog day other than once in 1943 in the middle of World War II when he stayed in hiding.