Groundhog Day: Tradition Over Accuracy.

Groundhog's Day was on February 2nd. At the time of this writing, ol' Punxsutawney Phil did indeed see his shadow on that morning and now that means here in North America we will have to endure another 6 weeks of bitter cold winter and snow. According to a report from NPR, Punxsutawney Phil has had less than a 40% accuracy rate lately and I think at this point with all this info we can say that his tradition is fairly ceremonious now that we have actual educated Meteorologists predicting weather with their technology.

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There's a bit more to just having a small critter come out to see their shadow and scurry away. There's definite tradition to all of this and it starts in the east in the 1800's

It's one of many German traditions brought over by immigrants to Pennsylvania back in the day as a part what would turn into religious practices and traditions. According to the article I was researching, They brought over the idea of the Christmas tree and the Easter bunny. Hedgehogs were apart of their winter traditions as well, however, the hedgehog was not a native species to America so they had to turn to the native groundhog for a replacement.

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The crowd drawing Groundhog day celebration was a part of special hunting club in Pennsylvania that started it in the late 1800's named The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, using the same format and tradition as they still do to this day. One fact I did not know was that Punxsutawney Phil did not gain his proper name until some time later in 1961.

With all that said, bundle up, because we have a bit more cold to endure, Groundhog or not, it seems that in Montana, winter lasts a little bit longer here.

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