Massachusetts considers inauguration of first female groundhog prognosticator

The crowd gathers, the reluctant rodent shows himself and the 'pope' of Groundhog Day listens intently for a minute then reveals to the masses the result -- did the groundhog see his shadow or not? If he did, then winter rules the land for six more weeks; if he didn't, then spring will make an early appearance.

There are several places where the locals have their own prognosticator but none so famous as Punxsutawney Phil. They all have several things in common, they are all groundhogs, they all forecast the weather depending on the presence (or absence) of their shadow and they are all male. Until now that is.

According to a story in the Boston Globe Ms. G. (g for groundhog, naturally) has been nominated to be the first official groundhog for Massachusetts. The woolly woodchuck has overseen the Groundhog Day festivities at the Massachusetts Audubon Society's Drumlin Farm for the past four years after having been found abandoned.

But sexism doesn't account for the fact that males traditionally fill the role of shadow-seeker, biology does. Male groundhogs are the species' early risers, going on the prowl to find a willing partner. Females are the stay-at-home types, patiently waiting in their dens for the males to find them.

Whether or not Ms. G. gets the nod as the official groundhog of Massachusetts it's all in good fun. If she doesn't agree with Phil, so what? Pennsylvania weather can be quite different than that in Massachusetts. Besides Phil isn't the only official groundhog, merely the most notorious. But how did it all get started? Where did this tradition come from?

It is a curiously American holiday combining European Christian tradition with Native American myth. On the Christian holy day of Candlemas priests would hand out candles blessed with holy water. In time it came to be believed that the weather on Candlemas would predict the severity of the weather the rest of winter.

At the same time, the Delaware peoples believed that the spirit Wojak, the groundhog, was their ancestral grandfather. Pennsylvanians adopted Wojak as the symbol of Candlemas and voila! Groundhog Day was born. It also helps explain why a small-town Pennsylvanian groundhog is the most famous.