Somewhere in my Internet travels in the last few days, I came across the nugget of information that weather prognostication by animals (a la Punxsatawney Phil) is a tradition that came from Germany. And in Europe, they didn’t have groundhogs, so they used badgers. How they used them remains the compelling question.
Having seen the myriad of pictures of people holding up Phil the Groundhog, I shudder to think of what might happen if someone tried that with a badger. I think the Americans who chose groundhogs for Groundhog Day chose a slightly more affable animal.
Happy Groundhog Day!
