Groundhog's Day

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

The Algonquian word for a groundhog is wuchak, or wejak or otchock, depending on the source. European trappers and frontiersmen adapted this word into the now familiar 'woodchuck' as early as the 1600's. Some other monikers for these common burrowing mammals included 'land beaver' and 'whistle pig', the latter due to their characteristic alarm call. But the name that has become most prevalent is 'groundhog' which incidentally is what the Dutch christened another commonplace animal they found in southern Africa. In Dutch, aardvark means earth pig, which can be easily translated as groundhog.

But here in the US, we don't celebrate Aardvark's Day, or Whistle Pig's Day! Groundhog's Day got its start in 18th century Pennsylvania by German immigrants. It is essentially weather divination - if the day is sunny, an emerging groundhog will see its shadow and scurry back into its burrow, signifying 6 more weeks of cold winter. However, if the day is cloudy and the groundhog emerges completely, spring will soon be here.