So, the nasty little rat saw it’s shadow, meaning six more weeks of “wintery mix” are in our future. Because when are groundhogs ever wrong?

Amirite?

But how did a groundhog get tied up with weather predictions and why on February 2nd?  Well, let me put on my USPS jacket and Cliff Clavin mask and do some hogsplainin’.

The midpoints between the four seasonal equinoxes/solstices  were important celebrations back in the pre-Christian day.  What we call Halloween is the midpoint between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice; what we call May Day is midway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice.  Likewise, our Groundhog Day is midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.

Imbolic was the pre-Christian Celtic name for the festival between winter and spring and marked lambing season.   Imbolc was also traditionally a time of weather divination, and the old tradition of watching to see if serpents or badgers came from their winter dens is probably the basis of our Groundhog Day. A Scottish Gaelic proverb about the day is:

“The serpent will come from the hole
On the brown Day of Bríde,
Though there should be three feet of snow
On the flat surface of the ground.”

So, when Imbolic was supplanted by Candelmas Day (the presentation of the child Jesus in the temple), the older beliefs remained attached to the day, even though they no longer made sense:

“If Candlemas Day is bright and clear, 
There’ll be two winters in the year. 
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain, 
Winter will not come again.”

Looks like 2015 will be a two-winter year.  Stupid groundhog.