The history of Groundhog Day you may not know

Punxsutawney Phil has been making weather predictions in Pennsylvania since the late 1800s, but the tradition dates back a lot farther.

Transcript

00:00 It's here in this small Pennsylvania town where people get together to await a prediction

00:08 of future weather.

00:09 He's a prognosticator of all prognosticators.

00:12 His name is Punxsutawney Phil.

00:16 They claim he's never been wrong, so doubt him if you will.

00:20 If he sees his shadow, six more weeks of winter is the answer.

00:24 But if he doesn't, springtime weather could come faster.

00:27 This tradition started in Germany back in the 1800s when calamus was practiced, an ancient

00:33 Christian tradition where clergy would bless and distribute candles needed for winter.

00:37 The candles represented how long and cold the winter would be.

00:41 The Germans then expanded on this concept by selecting an animal, the hedgehog, as a

00:45 means of predicting weather.

00:47 As the tradition made its way to America, German settlers in Pennsylvania switched to

00:51 ground hogs, which were plentiful in the Keystone State.

00:55 The town of Punxsutawney, located 80 miles north of Pittsburgh, became the home of this

01:00 custom.

01:01 Well the first official reports of groundhog day in Punxsutawney were 1886, 1887, somewhere

01:06 around there.

01:08 That's 135 at least years that Phil has been in Punxsutawney giving his predictions.

01:15 And it has been the same Phil this entire time.

01:18 He actually, every fall, receives the elixir of life at our annual groundhog picnic.

01:24 And that's a secret potion that, you know, recipe's been handed down from groundhog handler

01:28 to groundhog handler.

01:30 And with every sip he gets seven more years of longevity.

01:33 So as another year comes and we all grow old, we await a prediction of temperatures we hope

01:39 to be warm instead of cold.

01:41 (audience laughing)