Humans of USU: Groundhog Day’s hibernating truths
The Utah Statesman interviewed Alex MacDuff, a freshman majoring in business; Kelly Huish, a junior majoring in marketing; Haley Hansen, a junior majoring in health science; Bryton Nelson, a junior majoring in physics; Hollie Grange, a junior majoring in elementary education; and Justin Taylor, a junior majoring in psychology.
Utah Statesman: When is Groundhog Day? (According to cnn.com Groundhog Day is celebrated annually on Feb. 2.)
Alex MacDuff: Isn’t it in February sometime?
Kelly Huish: February? Is it a Monday?
Haley Hansen: February 15th?
Bryton Nelson: February second.
Hollie Grange: Isn’t it like February 20th?
Justin Taylor: It’s like February something…
US: How does Groundhog Day work? (If the groundhog sees its shadow when it emerges from its burrow, there will be six more weeks of winter.)
KH: Well if the groundhog pops up and he sees his shadow and goes back in his hole, then there is six more weeks of winter.
HG: They have a groundhog, Poxatermy Phil, some weird name, and he comes out and they see if he has a shadow and that means six more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t see the shadow, then it’s supposed to mean that spring will come sooner.
JT: If the groundhog sees the shadow, then that means there is going to be like another month of winter? And then if he doesn’t, then it’s like two weeks. It’s faster.
US: What is the name of the famous Groundhog? (Punxsutawney Phil)
KH: Something Pete, isn’t it? Peter? No, Promontory Pete?
HH: I’ll go with Bill Murray.
JT: It’s like ‘Poxatucket’ … something.
US: Why do we celebrate Groundhog Day in America?
AM: It’s probably just one of those weird superstitions that got passed down.
KH: Just for fun, gives us another reason to celebrate.
HH: We celebrate when we do see his shadow, right?
HG: We’re weird Americans, and I think it’s just something fun. I’m going to be a teacher, and it’s kind of nice to have a little lesson on stuff like that. I believe it’s a little under-appreciated, but at the same time it’s not one of those holidays that’s as important as Martin Luther King Day or something like that.
US: What is the origin of Groundhog Day? (The tradition began in Europe as Candlemas day. Germans settled in Pennsylvania and introduced their custom to America in the 1700s.)
HH: Someone just had a pet groundhog that they liked a lot probably.
BN: The settlers in the Americas decided you know what, we really hope this winter comes to an end, and we are going to use this groundhog to indicate whether or not we are through winter.
JT: Dude, I have no idea. Like some Native American thing?
US: If you could meet Punxsutawney Phil, what would you say?
AM: Well last time I saw a picture of him, he was pretty overweight so I would be like, man, you need to work out or something.
HH: He’s just really fat, and I want to pet him.
BN: Why does your shadow thing make no sense? It’s completely opposite of what I would normally think.
JT: Ask how do you deal with all the fame? People are always watching him, must be a hard life.
US: Shadow or no shadow? (Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow yesterday, meaning six more weeks of winter.)
AM: If winter is like this, I don’t think it will matter much either way.
HG: I’m hoping that it won’t be six more weeks of winter, but most likely they’ll say it will be because at least up here it has been a really nice winter, so I’m assuming we will have more.
JT: I don’t know if he will see his shadow or not, but I think we will have a short winter. We’ve had like no snow, it’s been super dry this year so we will see.