We always welcome the arrival of mid-winter along the Southcoast of Buzzards Bay as a seasonal sense of satisfaction that the bleak shoreline outside our picture window is now six weeks behind us.
On Groundhog Day, the sun rose a few minutes before 7:00 am and set at 5:00 pm for nine hours of daylight that will become 12 hours at the vernal equinox when the hours of light and shadow are the same all over the world.
The annual ceremony of observance in this country is 130 years old since 1887 in the western agricultural custom of the Pennsylvania Dutch farmers that superseded a religious holiday of Candlemas when candles were lighted for a parade for recognition of the celestial station on earth for mid-winter. The groundhog replaced the badger as the original hibernating prophet in seeing or not seeing its shadow to predict the arrival of spring.
My illustration is a drawing of a groundhog that came to be known as the celebrated Punxsutawney Phil on the shoulders of a member of the Grundsow Lodge with a top hat to formalize the traditional ritual.
This moment in time broadcast widely on mass media features Phil being awakened from deep winter sleep and looking annoyed at his handler, who wears gloves to avoid being bitten. If Phil sees his shadow, it is a bad omen for a long winter, which to most people might seem to be the opposite of what might be the more logical deduction.
However, this atmospheric phenomenon of a seasonal weather prediction that originated in early German history spread all over the world, including France, Russia, and England. The date itself is a cross-quarter day that falls between solstices and equinoxes of the four seasons. Another one is the literary mid-summer night dream of Shakespearian drama.
The very ordinary farm rodent, also commonly called a woodchuck, plays a perfect role as a seasonal sentinel standing early and late in the day, casting his shadow during daylight hours. When the sun goes down, he retreats to the subterranean chambers of his den to slumber in a twilight zone of a light meter in his head that measures his activities around the clock.
And on this celestial station in the heavens down on Earth, it is ceremoniously elevated to play a human-like, anthropomorphic prophet to benefit mankind with a weather predication based upon its own shadow. For the readers of this article, I may have illustrated a classic example of modern-day environmental awareness for your entertainment.
By George B. Emmons
