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What is the story of Groundhog Day?
Groundhog Day has its roots in the ancient Christian tradition of Candlemas, when clergy would bless and distribute candles needed for winter. The candles represented how long and cold the winter would be. Germans expanded on this concept by selecting an animal—the hedgehog—as a means of predicting weather.
What is a groundhog kindergarten?
It belongs to the group of ground squirrels. Those squirrels are also known as marmots. The animal may also be called Woodchuck, or Whistlepig. Groundhogs dig tunnels and live underground.
How do you explain Groundhog Day to kids?
Groundhog Day is the day when people look to the groundhog to predict the weather for the next six weeks. Folklore says that if the sun is shining when the ground hog comes out of his burrow, then the groundhog will go back into its burrow and we will have winter for six more weeks.
What is the main purpose of Groundhog Day?
| Groundhog Day | |
|---|---|
| Type | Cultural |
| Significance | Predicts the arrival of spring |
| Celebrations | Announcing whether a groundhog sees its shadow after it emerges from its burrow |
| Date | February 2 |
What did the groundhog do?
According to the tradition, if Phil sees his shadow and returns to his hole, he has predicted six more weeks of winter-like weather. If Phil does not see his shadow, he has predicted an “early spring.” Punxsutawney’s event is the most famous of many Groundhog Day festivals held in the United States and Canada.
What is groundhog tradition?
On Tuesday (February 2), the United States and Canada marked Groundhog Day, an annual tradition in which a groundhog predicts whether winter will continue or give way to spring soon. In the US, the most famous such prognostication is held at Punxsutawney town (pronounced “punks-uh-taw-nee”) in Pennsylvania state.
What are 3 interesting facts about groundhogs?
10 facts you didn’t know about groundhogs
- They’re related to squirrels.
- They’re filling in for hedgehogs.
- There’s a movement to replace them with robots.
- ‘Woodchuck’ has nothing to do with wood.
- They build impressive homes.
- Farmers consider them pests.
- They’re loners.
- When they sleep, they really sleep.
What are 3 facts about groundhogs day?
8 Surprising Things You Didn’t Know About Groundhog Day
- The Germans started the whole Groundhog Day thing.
- The groundhog really can predict the end of winter.
- Punxsutawney Phil is just a nickname.
- The original Groundhog Day involved eating groundhogs.
- Punxsutawney Phil isn’t the only weather predictor.
Where do groundhogs live in the winter?
underground burrows
During hibernation, groundhogs live in underground burrows that they dig (you may observe piles of dirt near the den opening). Throughout the winter, they are inactive, their heart rates slow and their body temperatures drop to approximately 39-40 degrees Fahrenheit.
Do groundhogs have to hibernate?
Groundhogs are hardly little things. The researchers found that even though groundhogs in nature usually have to hibernate (alternating between more active states of “arousal” and “torpor”) in their dens for only three or four months, under laboratory conditions a groundhog can hibernate for up to eight months.
What are facts about Groundhog Day?
Groundhogs are famous for predicting Spring. Groundhog Day is on February 2nd. According to legend, if the groundhog comes out of his burrow on February 2nd and does not see his shadow then, Spring will come early. If the groundhog sees a shadow, then it goes back into its burrow and Winter will last 6 more weeks.
What are some facts about groundhogs?
Groundhog Day. Groundhog hibernation gave rise to the popular U.S.
When did Groundhog Day celebration first begin?
First Groundhog Day. The first official Groundhog Day celebration took place on February 2, 1887, in Punxsutawney , Pennsylvania. It was the brainchild of local newspaper editor Clymer Freas, who sold a group of businessmen and groundhog hunters—known collectively as the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club —on the idea.
How was Groundhog Day started?
The tradition of Groundhog Day began as a custom among the German community in the US state of Pennsylvania in 1887. At the time, a man named Clymer H. Freas was the editor of the local paper Punxsutawney Spirit and he began promoting the town’s groundhog as the official “Groundhog Day…