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Groundhog Day Myth Turns Out to be a Woodchuck's Tale
By Bill Byrns
Published: February 2, 2007
Well it's Groundhog Day once again, that curious worship of a weather-predicting rodent in Pennsylvania that draws an annual cult following to out-of-the-way Punxsutawney.
The groundhog, also known as the woodchuck or whistlepig, belongs to a group of large ground squirrels known as marmots.
But, it seems our pop-culture Groundhog Day fascination owes its celebrity status to a combination of ancient astronomy and Middle Age culture.
Feb. 2 was once celebrated in Roman times as Candlemas, a day marking the midpoint between the solstice and the equinox.
A Scottish couplet offers that "If Candlemas Day is bright and clear, there'll be two winters in the year."
Somehow this bit of sage advice was translated to the North American groundhog which, according to the best scientific research, has no Celtic roots at all.
Still, the rodent does hibernate and with that couplet in mind comes the connection with the latest incarnation of "Punxsutawney Phil."
If Phil had seen his shadow today, it would mean six more weeks of winter. Since he did not see his shadow, it means spring is just around the corner.
Most of the time, Phil sees his shadow.
Around here, most of Phil's Kankakee cousins have more sense than to pop out of their holes and freeze their fur off looking for shadows.
But then, Phil's cousins never quite got the respectful awe awarded to the Punxsutawney rat.
For several years the Plum Creek Nature Center near Beecher hosted an annual "Willy Woodchuck Birthday Bash" on Groundhog Day.
However, Willy's parties were discontinued two years ago, according to Plum Creek staffers.
By the way, the name "woodchuck" has as little to do with wood as shadows do with springtime.
The name, it seems, stems from the Algonquian Indians who called the groundhog wuchak.
So, before you ponder tackling the tongue-twisting query, "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" Just remember that "A woodchuck would chuck all the wood that a woodchuck could if a woodchuck could chuck wood."
© Copyright 2007 Small Newspaper Group
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