HARLEYSVILLE, Pa. — It turns out Harleysville Hank isn’t the only varmint operating in the shadow of world-renowned Punxsutawney Phil on Groundhog Day.
Phil just had a better marketing team, and some inside help, back in the day.
Groundhog Day is celebrated across North America and Canada and has roots in European agriculture, marking the day that falls between winter solstice and spring equinox. It was a significant ancient Celtic holiday (Imbolc) and later Christian holiday (Candlemas). Elements of weather prediction are woven into both traditions.
About 300 spectators gathered at the Mennonite Heritage Center at dawn Feb. 2 to hear Harleysville Hank's prediction for spring.
Don Yoder’s book “Groundhog Day” traces the whistle pig weatherman’s origins to German folklore tying the badger, not the groundhog (aka woodchuck, land beaver, and aforementioned whistle pig) to forecasting the weather.
Quoting the Dictionary of German Folk Belief, he writes: “The belief was ... if the badger encountered sunshine on Candlemas and therefore saw his shadow, he crawled back into his hole to stay for four more weeks, which would be a continuation of winter weather.”
Yoder’s first encounter with the groundhog as weather predictor was from a Feb. 2, 1840, entry made by a Welch-American shopkeeper in Pennsylvania: “Today the Germans say the groundhog comes out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he returns in and remains there 40 days.”
More than 28 U.S. states and Canadian provinces have been home to weather-predicting groundhogs, according to the Associated Press.
Punxsutawney Phil got a furry leg up in 1886, according to published reports, when a member of a groundhog hunting group called “The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club” used his position at the local newspaper to trumpet the provincial prognosticator as the only real deal.
Dru and Kevin Shelly pose with a reasonable facsimile of Marmota Momax, aka a groundhog.
Quarryville’s “Octoraro Orphie” once rivaled Phil in popularity and has been predicting the coming of spring since 1907 (apparently groundhogs — members of the squirrel family — live a very long time).
Groundhog lodges in southeastern Pennsylvania celebrate the holiday with Fersommling, social events that include food, speeches and skits, with fines doled out to those who speak anything but Pennsylvania Dutch.
In 2009, “Staten Island Chuck” took a bite out of then-New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, at which point he was discretely replace by zoo officials with his daughter Charlotte. Five years later, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio summarily dropped the substituted woodchuck in front of a bunch of schoolkids, and she was discovered expired in her enclosure a week later. This may partially explain why many Groundhog Day celebrations opt for an animal that has already left its mortal coil and has been preserved through taxidermy, or else a stuffed toy.
Harleysville Hank Has “Spoken”
Spring has sprung! That was the official word from Harleysville Hank — translated by a coveted member of the Harleysville Order of the Grundsow (H.O.G) — as dawn broke over a drizzly day at the Mennonite Heritage Center.
What it lacked in longevity — Harleysville Hank Groundhog Day Extravaganza is in its infancy at 9 years old compared to other Groundhog Day celebrations — the event made up for in sheer enthusiasm.
Following a litany of proclamations, pontifications and general celebration that included hot chocolate/coffee, scrapple (ground hog, when you get right down to it), thematic songs and a unified chant from the crowd of “Hank! Hank! Hank!,” it was time for prognosticating.
Jean Godsall-Myers dishes out funny cake and shoofly pie at the Harleysville Hank Groundhog Day Extravaganza.
Hank, actually a cuddly stuffy who had been busy all month making the rounds to local sponsors, schools and the like, is a Facebook sensation with 911 followers.
Groundhog Day “connects back to Pennsylvania and Dutch cultural traditions,” said Joel Nofziger, executive director for the Mennonite Heritage Center. “Not all Mennonites were Pennsylvania Dutch, and not all Pennsylvania Dutch are Mennonites. A good chunk of Mennonites in this region, especially those who have been around since the 1700s, would have been Pennsylvania Dutch, culturally.”
Volunteer Jim King helps a young novice make scrapple at the Harleysville Hank Groundhog Day Extravaganza.
Despite the jovial mood, the rivalry with Punxsutawney Phil — who was busy predicting an early spring in another neck of the woods — was palpable.
“We’re not worried about him so much,” said Joel Alderfer, collections manager at the heritage center, only half convincingly.
Alderfer conceded that Groundhog Day — whether the designated prognosticator is actually breathing or otherwise — requires a suspension of disbelief.
“He’s real to some people,” he said.
“When we started this, we really didn’t want to mess with a live groundhog,” Alderfer said. “We’re not into handling live animals here, not for this event. But whether you believe he’s real or not, Hank has taken on a life of his own.”
It’s all about building community, he said.
“This is very informal,” Alderfer said. “We’re not trying to replicate the Grundsow (Groundhog) Lodges’ annual banquets.”
An overflowing parking lot and children from 1 to 90 enjoying the fun and each other’s company indicated the event had met its goal.
“I grew up in this area, and this is something that we’ve been going to for several years,“ said Kevin Shelly, a supervisor in nearby Lower Salford Township. “It’s become a nice tradition for the family.”
