When I was young, I loved watching the Groundhog Day festivities on the television with my parents as we made our final predictions about whether or not he would see his shadow. I would cuddle up on the couch with a big mug of hot chocolate and wait with bated breath as Punxsutawney Phil predicted the future.

Feb. 2 used to be a magical day. This year, though, the day passed, and I was none the wiser that we have six more weeks of winter ahead of us.

You can call me cynical or say I’m turning into a grumpy old lady, but the holiday seems entirely pointless now.

In the past ten years, Punxsutawney Phil has correctly predicted the weather three times, giving him an average of thirty percent accuracy. This is public information, and yet people still buy into the superstition that the groundhog knows all.

In my opinion, Phil can be grouped in with other holiday mascots like the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus, who we all grew out of believing in years ago.

I understand this is a cute and respected American tradition and that children seem to enjoy it, but does anyone really care about Groundhog Day anymore? Aside from the blockbuster movie starring Bill Murray based on the day that came out in 1993 and the musical based on the film, Groundhog Day has not played a significant role in American pop culture.

Groundhog Day made headlines in 2024 and stayed in the news cycle for quite a while due to the tragic passing of Major the groundhog. Major suffered from heart issues and departed shortly after predicting an early spring.

The history of this day has heavily intrigued me because the more I think about this holiday, the less I understand it.

Groundhog.org’s homepage tells us that in 1886, the Punxsutawney newspaper made its first mention of Groundhog Day, and participation has grown annually since then. The origins of this holiday can be traced back to Germany, where hedgehogs were used as season-predicting animals.

Though the tradition is said to have started in Pennsylvania, historians commented that the earliest acknowledgment of a weather-predicting groundhog was from a diary entry written by a Morgantown storekeeper in 1841.

The idea that an animal can prophesize the weather is objectively far-fetched, but it’s a significant piece of European folklore that made its way to the U.S.

I think it’s important to note that while animals cannot actually foresee the weather, the study of phenology has proved that humans can predict the changing of seasons based on plant and animal behavior.

Plants and animals change seasonally, based on climate factors, and phenology looks into the specific cycles that take place and how they can be used to anticipate the changing of seasons. There is no scientific backing that could prove that a groundhog seeing their shadow is any indication of a prolonged or shortened winter. Obviously.

It seems like I am not the only one who wouldn’t mind seeing this holiday come to an end. PETA has made a case against Groundhog Day, saying that groundhogs are shy animals who tend to actively avoid human contact.

Unfortunately, PETA did not want to simply abolish the holiday but rather change it to include a cake instead of an animal. They have suggested doing a sort of gender reveal by using a cake to show whether or not there will be six more weeks of winter.

By doing this, they would save the groundhogs from getting stage fright and still bring tourism to Punxsutawney.

I can understand that this quirky and silly holiday is beloved by many Americans who consider Punxsutawney Phil to be a national treasure, but I personally believe this holiday is unnecessary and unimportant.