The observance of Groundhog Day in the United States first occurred in German communities in Pennsylvania, according to known records. The earliest mention of Groundhog Day is an entry on February 2, 1840, in the diary of James L. Morris of Morgantown, in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, according to the book on the subject by Don Yoder. This was a Groundhog Day, in the United States and Canada, day (February 2) on which the emergence of the groundhog from its burrow is said to foretell the weather for the following six weeks. In the United States the most popular event occurs in Pennsylvania and centers on a groundhog designated Punxsutawney Phil. Groundhog Day, celebrated every year on February 2, is an unusual holiday that stretches back hundreds of years back to European traditions and even ancient times. How is Groundhog Day Celebrated? Groundhog Day is famously connected to weather prediction, with the most prominent tradition involving a groundhog predicting the conclusion of The first official Groundhog Day celebration took place on February 2, 1887, in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. The annual ritual has roots in pre-Christian traditions and was brought to the U.S. by In 1886, Groundhog Day was acknowledged for the first time in Punxsutawney by a local newspaper, Weathers Wags, according to the club. In 1887, the first official pilgrimage to see Phil on Gobbler Groundhog Day By Numbers. 1841 – A storekeeper named James Morris wrote and marked the date February 2 as Candlemas Day. 40,000 – The number of people who attend the Groundhog Day celebration in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. 1886 – The year the first Groundhog Day was held in Punxsutawney. See how the groundhog became a symbol for predicting seasonal changes in America, rooted in German folklore with a badger — which in turn lead to Groundhog Day. 3 of 15 | . FILE - The groundhog saw his shadow, Feb. 2, 1954, as the sun peeked through an overcast sky at Washington Park Zoo in Milwaukee, Wis. The arrival of annual Groundhog Day celebrations Friday, Feb. 2, 2024, will draw thousands of people to see celebrity woodchuck Phil at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa. — an event that exploded in popularity after the 1993 Bill Murray movie. On February 2, 1887, Groundhog Day, featuring a rodent meteorologist, is celebrated for the first time at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.According to tradition, if a groundhog The "Punxsutawney Groundhog Club" was founded in 1886 by a group of groundhog hunters, one of whom was the editor of the town's newspaper and quickly published a proclamation about its local Still, it’s perfectly sensible to wonder what happened to Phil Connors after his years of endless Groundhog Days. Phil experienced thousands of February 2nds, learned to be a better man, then Why do we celebrate Groundhog Day? Groundhog Day is celebrated every February 2, the same day as Candlemas, where some of the holiday's traditions originate.. Candlemas was traditionally aligned While Groundhog Day isn't a federal holiday in the United States, the traditional observance celebrates the triumph of spring over winter. Groundhog Day is celebrated every year on Feb. 2. This So in each of these days, some with levity, and some with darker moments of Phil actually taking his own life, his news crew and people of the town would just assume that that day happened exactly as it did, and they were totally unaware that they were now part of a new timeline. The Brief. Woodstock, Illinois, became the filming location for "Groundhog Day" (1993), and the town now celebrates the movie with an annual festival that attracts visitors from around the world. Groundhog Day is a 1993 American fantasy comedy film directed by Harold Ramis from a screenplay by him and Danny Rubin.Starring Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, and Chris Elliott, it tells the story of a cynical television weatherman covering the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, who becomes trapped in a time loop, forcing him to relive February 2 repeatedly. Home of Punxsutawney Phil in the Weather Capital of the World. The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club invites to to celebrate Groundhog Day! Groundhog Day 2023 livestream:Watch Punxsutawney Phil make his annual weather prediction More: Every Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney Phil predicts the future weather. How often is he right? The first official Groundhog Day happened on February 2, 1887, in the very town it is celebrated in today. The holiday made a permanent home at Gobbler’s Knob the following year. According to Every morning, Phil wakes up at 6:00AM, and finds the day completely reset. In an effort to woo Rita and prove his story, he convinces Rita to spend the night, who mistakenly believes that the day resets at midnight. The two end up falling asleep before the day resets, and Phil wakes up to find himself alone.
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