Happy Grundsaudaag! The ancient Germanic history of Groundhog Day

The origins of Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day is perhaps one of the Pennsylvania Dutch community’s most well-known cultural inventions – although the Amish themselves do not celebrate it, since it is not a religious holiday. As with the language, Groundhog Day emerged from a mix of influences.

“The origins of Groundhog Day are fascinating,” says Louden. “It goes back to a pre-Christian tradition of looking forward to spring.” People would try to predict the arrival of spring by observing when ground-dwelling animals such as badgers emerge from hibernation. In northern European countries, these older traditions were then overlaid with the Christian holiday of Lichtmess (Candlemas) on 2 February, Louden says, which the Pennsylvania Dutch also celebrated. As a rural community, they also engaged in various other practices that honoured “the wisdom of nature”, Louden says, such as Braucherei, a kind of folk medicine.

In their new environment, the settlers adapted this nature-watching, weather-forecasting ritual to a creature that didn’t exist back home: the North American groundhog. Since they had no word for it, they called it “Die Grundsau“, a translation of the English “Groundhog”. Another word is “Grunddachs“, meaning “ground-badger”. These words are completely different from the European German word for groundhog: “Murmeltier”, or more specifically, “Waldmurmeltier” (“forest-marmot”).

The groundhog also fitted well with a core Pennsylvania Dutch value, Louden says: “Demut”, humility.

“The groundhog is considered an icon of wisdom, not in the sense of book learning, but in the sense of ‘schlau’, clever, from practical experience,” says Louden. It symbolises a way of life that values humility over striving, competition and materialism, he adds. “The groundhog is about as uncool an animal as it gets. It’s not like a lion, a bear or an eagle – it’s a rodent. So the Pennsylvania Dutch have embraced that, without planning, as a nice expression of humility.”

To illustrate this, he gives the example of a Pennsylvania Dutch poem honouring both the groundhog, and practical knowledge. (If you want to know what Pennsylvania Dutch sounds like, you can listen to a recording of Louden reading the poem):

Die Grundsau kummt gewehnlich raus am zwette Daag im Hanning;

Vum Wedder wees sie meh wie mir un hot doch gaar ken Lanning.

Nau wann sie do ken Schadde sehnt, dann watt des Wedder widder schee,

Doch scheint die Sunn, dann wees sie schun, mer griege widder Schnee.

It translates into English as:

The groundhog usually comes out on the second day in February;

It knows more about the weather than we do and yet has no education.

Now if it doesn’t see its shadow here, then the weather will get nice again,

But if the Sun shines, then it knows we will get snow again.