Punxsutawney Phil – a “weather predicting” groundhog – has forecast six more weeks of winter in the US, disappointing the crowds of people gathered in the Pennsylvania town for the annual Groundhog Day celebrations.
To chants of “Phil” the rodent was brought out from a tree stump early on Sunday morning to “give” his yearly forecast.
According to folklore, If Phil looks at his own shadow then there will be another six weeks of the North American winter, and if not, then an early spring is on the horizon
“There’s a shadow up here, get ready for six more weeks of winter this year,” Tom Dunkel, president of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, proclaimed.
The spotlight is on Phil every year on Groundhog Day – a tradition celebrated in the US and Canada which attracts tens of thousands of people.
It is thought to have evolved from German celebrations of Candlemas on 2 February. Known as Dachstag, or Badger Day, it was believed that if a badger refused to emerge from its home, locals were in for four more weeks of snow.
As the German-speaking Pennsylvania Dutch settled in America, the tradition moved stateside with a groundhog replacing the badger.
The first official Groundhog Day took place in 1887 in Punxsutawney.
The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, the group behind the event, has an “inner circle” of 15 people wearing top hats and bowties who are responsible for taking care of Phil and protecting “the legend of the great weather-predicting groundhog”.
They claim – in a light-hearted way – that the same groundhog has been predicting the weather at Gobbler’s Knob for more than100 years.
An “elixir of life” made from a “secret recipe” is given to the groundhog every summer which is what gives Phil his “longevity and youthful good looks”, it says on the club’s website.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission says the potential lifespan of a groundhog is estimated at eight or nine years.
Last year, Phil predicted an early spring after waking up to not see his shadow on Groundhog Day.
The event was further popularised by the 1993 film Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell.
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