Also called Candlemas, Groundhog Day, Dachstag, Badger Day, Brigid's Day weather, bear's day
The belief that fair weather on Candlemas, 2 February, means winter is not done, told through rhymes and through animals that look at their shadows: the badger in Germany, the bear in Hungary, the hedgehog in Ireland, and the groundhog in Pennsylvania.
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German tradition marked Candlemas as Badger Day. If the badger came out of its sett into sunshine and cast a shadow, it went back in and four more weeks of winter followed. Pennsylvania Dutch settlers transferred the role to the local groundhog.
The Punxsutawney Spirit newspaper first reported a Groundhog Day observance in 1886, and the first official trip to Gobbler's Knob followed in 1887. If the groundhog sees its shadow, six more weeks of winter are forecast. Its record is close to a coin toss.
Candlemas in Hungary is tied to the bear, who comes out of its den and, if it sees its shadow in sunshine, goes back in for more cold. Children now dress as bears, light candles and eat honey.
On St Brigid's Day, 1 February, Irish lore watched the hedgehog: if it stayed out, mild weather was coming. In Scottish and Manx lore the Cailleach made the day bright if she wanted to gather firewood for a long winter, so a foul day was the good sign.
Candlemas, the feast of the Presentation of Christ and the Purification of Mary on 2 February, took its English name from the candles blessed at Mass that day. It fell at the midpoint of winter and was a quarter day for rents and hiring in parts of Europe. Weather proverbs gathered around it in many languages, nearly all saying the same thing: a sunny Candlemas means a cold spring.
The animal forecast came to America with German-speaking settlers in Pennsylvania, who swapped their badger for the groundhog. The Punxsutawney Spirit reported the first observance in 1886, and the town's Groundhog Club made it a yearly event in 1887. The day sits close to Imbolc on 1 February, and the hedgehog and Cailleach lore of Ireland and Scotland show the same idea in Gaelic dress.
On the eve of 1 February, Irish and Scottish households invited Brigid into the house: they made her a bed, set out a doll of rushes or oats, smoothed the ashes to look for her mark, and left a cloth outside for her to bless as a healing charm.
A cross woven from fresh rushes on St Brigid's Eve and hung in the house and byre to guard against fire, hunger and harm for the year ahead.
In Romanian and Balkan villages, in drought or in late spring, girls dressed in green leaves danced from house to house while women poured water over them, singing for rain. In the related Caloian rite, children buried and mourned a small clay figure and then sent it down the river to unlock the rain.
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