GOBBLER’S KNOB – For the past 137 years, Punxsutawney’s famous, weather-forecasting groundhog, Phil, has been fetched from his burrow mid-winter Feb. 2 by his Inner Circle.
As the legend goes, if Phil wakes from his winter sleep and sees his shadow, he warns of six more weeks of bad weather and scampers back into his burrow.
If Phil wakes and finds himself shadowless, he takes it as a sign of an early spring and stays above ground.
According to members of the Groundhog Club, Phil, after making the prediction, chatters to the club’s president in “Groundhogese.”
“Groundhogese” is a language, which only the current club president can understand, and his forecast is then translated for the entire world.
At sunrise around 7:23 a.m. this Groundhog Day, Phil emerged from his temporary burrow surrounded by members of the Inner Circle in top hats and tuxedos and to the delight of his faithful followers.
In Groundhogese he directed the Inner Circle president to his prognostication scroll. It reads:
“I see the morning has brought the finest people. I see their bravery and spirit. The time has come, I can feel it; the excitement, I can hear it.
“I see the folks with gray in their hair and I see the kids – all young and scrawny. Their eyes and cheeks aglow from the cold, clean air of sweet Punxsutawney.
“I see that everyone knows their part, and I am merely the sage, but above all else, I see a shadow on my stage and so, no matter how you measure, it’s six more weeks of winter weather.”
According to the Groundhog Day Web site, the Groundhog Day celebration began with Pennsylvania’s earliest settlers.
They brought with them the legend of Candlemas Day, which states, “For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day, so far will the snow swirl in May…”
Punxsutawney held its first Groundhog Day in the 1800’s. The first official trek to Gobbler’s Knob was made Feb. 2, 1886.
So, the legend goes, Punxsutawney Phil was named after King Philip. Prior to being called Phil, he was called Br’er Groundhog.
