Potomac Phil, D.C.’s taxidermied groundhog, emerged in front of the Dupont Circle fountain Friday but did not see his shadow, predicting an early spring this year.
Potomac Phil also predicted another six months of political gridlock, a prediction unique to the stuffed creature.
Punxsutawney Phil emerged about an hour earlier than Potomac Phil, around 7:30 a.m. and also did not see his shadow.
Potomac Phil’s prediction is in, from the annual celebration in Dupont Circle. @WTOP pic.twitter.com/J0f0yicbcd
— Neal Augenstein (@AugensteinWTOP) February 2, 2024
What are the holiday’s origins?
Celtic people across Europe marked the four days that are midway between the winter solstice, the spring equinox, the summer solstice and the fall equinox. What the Celts called Imbolc is also around when Christians celebrate Candlemas, timed to Joseph and Mary’s presentation of Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem.
Ancient people would watch the sun, stars and animal behavior to guide farming practices and other decisions, and the practice of watching an animal’s emergence from winter hibernation to forecast weather has roots in a similar German tradition involving badgers or bears. Pennsylvania Germans apparently substituted the groundhog, endemic to the eastern and midwestern United States.
Historians have found a reference in an 1841 diary to groundhog weather forecasts in early February among families of German descent in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, according to the late Don Yoder, a University of Pennsylvania professor whose 2003 book about Groundhog Day explored the Celtic connection.
Yoder concluded the festival has roots in “ancient, undoubtedly prehistoric, weather lore.”
The Associated Press and WTOP’s Neal Augenstein contributed to this report.
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