Where Groundhog Day Comes From And Why It Matters

Within the Christian tradition, Candlemas takes place on February 2 each year. It is a day marking the Presentation of the Lord and the Purification of the Blessed Mary. 

This meant that, after the requisite amount of time after having given birth, Mary took her newborn son "to Jerusalem to present him to the lord... and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: 'a pair of doves or two young pigeons" (Luke 2:22-24). 

This took place 40 days after giving birth, per Leviticus 12:1-4:

The Lord said to Moses, 'Say to the Israelites: "A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period. On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised. Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding."'

After all of this was done, Simeon, a holy man,

Blessed them and said to Mary... 'This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.' (Luke 2:33-35).

Celtic and other non-Christian peoples already connected animals to the changing of the seasons in antiquity. The mid-point between the Samhain and Beltane (or Beltain) - roughly November 1 and May 1 -  takes place on February 1 and February 2 in Celtic tradition. Called Imbolc, this day celebrates the goddess Brigid, who oversaw fertility, poetry, crafts, and prophecy. 

Animals were associated with Imbolc since it coincided with the first glimpses of spring. Lambs were born, bears emerged from their dens, and the planting season could begin.

Fire was also linked to Brigid, especially after she was incorporated into Christianity. As noted by the National Museum of Ireland:

Spring, the season of hope, brought better weather and longer days. With it came new life on the farm and new growth on the land. St. Brigid offered protection towards fertility for the household, farm, and land, and safeguarded people from illness and disease.

Birth and emergence out of darkness were part of the pagan tradition in ways not dissimilar from Christianity.

With the continued celebration of Candlemas and Imbolc through antiquity and, for the former especially, during the Middle Ages, the relationship was solidified between animals, birth, light, and winter. In many German-speaking parts of Europe, there was still one more element to the celebration of February 2, however. 

As part of a superstition related to Candlemas and the weather, it was believed that, as numerous proverbs explained,

If Candlemas day be fair and bright
Winter will take another flight;
If Candlemas day be foul and rain
Winter is gone and won't come again. 

When German-speaking Dutch immigrants arrived in the United States, they brought all of the combining influences that saw February 2 as important with them. This included a specific type of animal, as author Don Yoder explained:

[The Dictionary of German Folk Belief] cites the Dachs, or badger, as the Candlemas weather prophet throughout much of German-speaking Europe… Dachstag, or Badger Day, is a German folk expression for Candlemas. The belief was... if the badger encountered sunshine on Candlemas and therefore saw his shadow, he crawled back into his hole to stay for four more weeks, which would be a continuation of winter weather.

In 1840, in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, shopkeeper James L. Morris wrote in his diary for February 2: 

Today the Germans say the groundhog comes out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he returns in and remains there 40 days.

It would be more than 40 years until the first newspaper from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, wrote about its groundhog seeing its shadow - considered the first reference to the now-famous weather prognosticator. This occurred in 1886 and, the following year, what has been termed a pilgrimage of sorts saw people traveling to Gobbler's Knob, home to Punxsutawney Phil.

That year, the groundhog saw his shadow, indicating another 40 days of winter was to come. 

Just like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the like are immortal and enduring, there's only been one Punxsutawney Phil over the years. But, since groundhogs aren't prone to living forever, it's more likely that there have been about 13 to 15 groundhogs consulted since the tradition began.

The lifespan of a groundhog is between two and six years in the wild, but, in captivity, the animals can live for as many as 14 years. With more than 130 years between the first recorded Groundhog Day celebrations at Gobbler's Knob, a lifespan averaging at 10 years would result in 13 or 14 Punxsutawney Phils over the years.

Punxsutawney Phil is not the only animal people look to for a sign that winter will end soon, however. Other cities have groundhogs of their own. In Milwaukee, however, it's goats, while Brevard, North Carolina, consults Pisgah Piper the white squirrel. Chickens, ducks, owls, and beavers are also honored on February 2 when they offer weather predictions to curious observers.