Happy Groundhog Day! This Yellow-bellied Marmot is one I photographed up the “Old Fall River Road” in Rocky Mountain National Park. Marmots are also known as groundhogs and woodchucks. Different species of Marmots are found across North America, eastern Europe, Siberia and some of the alpine regions in western Europe.

In the movie “Groundhog Day”, Bill Murray’s character “Phil Connors” was right when he called them squirrels: “This is one time where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather.” He was correct because they are indeed members of the Squirrel family.

The Native Americans (Lenni-Lenape People or Delaware Indians, who had been pushed west) near Punxsutawney, PA called them “Wojak” which European settlers pronounced “Woodchuck.”  More about this is a moment.

In some countries it was believed that a burrowing animal, a hedgehog (family Erinaceidae) would come out on Bridget’s Day (Bridget, the Celtic goddess of fire) to judge the quality of the weather. It came at the midpoint between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox (on or about February 2nd). In order to sway pagans towards the Catholic Church, Bridget was sainted and Candlemas became a time when the candles that were used throughout the year were blessed by the church.

The Candlemas lyric:

If Candlemas day be sunny and bright, Winter again will show its might.

If Candlemas day be cloudy and gray, Winter soon will pass away.

Now Wojak. When German settlers arrived in what is now Punxsutawney, PA in the 1700s, they brought a tradition known as “Candlemas Day”. There were no hedgehogs in what is now Punxsutawney, PA or anywhere is North America, so they had to utilize a “woodchuck” (“Wojak”) rather than a hedge hog.

And Groundhog Day was born in Punxsutawney, PA.