All eyes on Punxsutawny Phil come Groundhog Day

US Features

By Gabriele Chwallek Jan 31, 2007, 2:20 GMT

Washington - Once a year, a groundhog named Phil takes his place on the world stage and a Pennsylvania community with an almost unpronounceable name makes headlines. Phil puts on his little show every year on February 2, Groundhog Day. It's the day the United States and the world find out how much longer winter will last. The last three Groundhog Days, Phil had bad news for people looking forward to an early spring, predicting winter would continue for six more weeks. Are his predictions correct? The question always unleashes indignation from members of the Groundhog Club. Phil, the world's most famous weatherman, is always right. His prediction is not fixed on any particular location after all and somewhere winter definitely will last six more weeks. This passes for logic in Punxsutawny, Pennsylvania, a town of 6,000 residents famous for its February 2 tradition. The town earned worldwide recognition with the 1993 comedy 'Groundhog Day,' in which Bill Murray stars as an egotistical television weatherman forced to relive Groundhog Day in the town over and over until he changes his selfish ways. There may be no one in Punxsutawny today who's thinking about the day after Groundhog Day. An average of 30,000 visitors are on hand every year for the ceremony featuring Phil, who lives in a nearby forest called Gobbler's Knob. The stream of spectators start to arrive shortly after midnight, but the event doesn't get seriously underway until 7:30 in the morning. That's when the leaders of the Groundhog Club, 15 men in dress coats and top hats, appear. The master of ceremony raps on Phil's winter quarters - a tree stump - with a stick at sunrise. The hairy little critter is awakened and brought into the open. If he sees his shadow, the tradition goes, there will be six more weeks of winter weather. If he doesn't see his shadow, there's hope that spring will arrive early. Phil's prognosis is announced with great fanfare after he mutters it to the president of the Groundhog Club. Only the head of the group - currently Bill Cooper - can understand Phil's 'groundhogese' and he translates the message for all the world into English. The annual tradition on the Christian day of Candlemas - approximately midway through winter - goes back to the 19th century. Researchers of ancient customs believe it is an amalgamation of the legends of Native American people and German immigrants. According to legend, Native Americans who lived in Punxsutawny at the time believed their ancestors were groundhogs. The Christian settlers on the other hand believed in their 'wisdom,' which said a groundhog awakes from its hibernation on Candlemas and returns to its den if it sees its shadow. Groundhog Day was first mentioned in the diary of a Pennsylvania shop owner in 1841. The first official trek to Gobbler's Knob to wake up Punxsutawny Phil took place February 2, 1887, making it a 120-year-old tradition. A typical groundhog lives just 15 years, according to nature reference books, but for his unusual longevity Phil can thank a secretly brewed elixir of life. Phil slurps it every summer, gaining seven years each time, the Groundhog Club explains on its official website. It is of course forbidden to ask how many Phils there really have been since the beginning. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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