Edhat Staff
By edhat staff
Per American tradition, a groundhog saw its shadow on Tuesday morning indicating six more weeks of winter.
The longstanding Groundhog Day ceremony is held annually at Punxsutawney in western Pennsylvania, and the groundhog is named Punxsutawney Phil. This year the event was streamed live to prevent a crowd due to safety precautions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.
Punxsutawney Phil woke up at 7:25 a.m. and spotted his own shadow in front of about 16 members of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club at Gobbler’s Knob.
“Now, when I turn to see, there’s a perfect shadow cast of me. Six more weeks of winter there will be,” one of Phil’s handlers stated during the ceremony.
The event is based on a Pennsylvania-Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on February 2nd and sees its shadow due to clear weather, it will retreat to its den and winter will persist for six more weeks. However, if it does not see its shadow because of cloudiness, spring will arrive early.
While this tradition remains popular in America and single-handedly keeps top hats in fashion, studies have found no consistent correlation between a groundhog seeing its shadow and the subsequent arrival time of spring-like weather. But it’s fun and we like it.
