[In honor of the very strange ritual that is Groundhog Day, this week I’ll AmericanStudy a handful of such quirky and fun traditions, including Phil himself on Friday. I’d love to hear about quirky traditions you’d highlight in comments!]
On two
ways to try to make sense of the most famous and one of the strangest of our
quirky traditions.
First
things first: I blogged
about the film Groundhog Day (1993)
as part of a weeklong BillMurrayStudying
series two years ago this week, and if you thought I wouldn’t take this
chance to ask you to check out a freaking BillMurrayStudying blog series, well
you thought wrong. Plus, I do think that excellent film is very much about both
the Groundhog Day tradition and the community of Punxsutawney that hosts it, so
check out that post if you would and then come on back for more
GroundhogStudying.
Welcome
back! It’s important to note that there are at least a half-dozen other
weather-predicting groundhogs (or woodchucks, as the same animal is known
in much of the rest of the country) out there in these quirky United States,
and yet there’s no doubt that it is Punxsutawney
Phil who embodies the tradition and the holiday for most of us (including this
AmericanStudier). Part of that is the influence of the film itself, I believe;
I don’t remember for sure how much attention was paid to Groundhog Day when I
was growing up in the 1980s, but it seems clear that since the 1993 film the attention
(like the annual
event and gathering on this day) has grown significantly. But I’d argue
that another factor, as again the film knows well, is the community of Punxsutawney
itself—from its unique name to its Groundhog
Club to many other layers
to the tradition and how it is commemorated and celebrated every February 2nd,
this small Pennsylvania town exemplifies both the randomness and the appeal of quirky
local traditions. As with all of the week’s subjects, I’d love the chance to take
part in that tradition at least once if it worked out.
At the
same time, there’s something distinct about Groundhog Day from all of the other
quirky traditions I’ve focused on this week: it is as an actual holiday, one
with a longstanding tradition dating back hundreds of years in both the U.S.
and Canada. To be clear, in many ways that only makes the whole thing that much
quirkier still, that the Pennsylvania
Dutch folk belief that groundhogs can predict the seasons based on whether
they see their shadow on a particular midwinter day has evolved into a full-on
holiday that is celebrated by communities far beyond that particular culture or
heritage. Yet at the same time, many of our most prominent holidays likewise
began with folk traditions and stories that evolved into the widespread and far
more universal celebrations they now entail, with Christmas
at the very top of that list of course. And I’d take this line of thought
one step further, and argue that almost all holidays are themselves an example
of not just a tradition but a quirky one, a collection of random details and
practices that gradually get cemented into what seem to be inevitable and
essential shared experiences. In that way, Groundhog Day offers a great way to
further contextualize the week’s overall topic and how it works in our society.
January
Recap this weekend,
Ben
PS. What
do you think? Other traditions you’d highlight?
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