The Origin of Groundhog Day:
Groundhog Day originated in the Middle Ages. Each year, on February 1st, after a special blessing, all the men in the village would take part in a great collective groundhog hunt. The groundhogs would be skinned, gutted (with the liver saved), and soaked in brine overnight. Their flesh would be cooked with special spices (no village used quite the same spice combinati...on as any other) and consumed in a great feast on February 2nd.
The fat of the groundhogs would be rendered and made into candles. A good hunt would result in enough groundhog fat for a 6 week supply of candles; in other words, for the rest of the winter. This was the origin of the Church holiday of Candlemas.
However, there was always one groundhog who was captured alive and not killed. He was deemed "King of the Groundhogs" and before dawn on February 2nd, the young boys of the village would take him from door to door, crying out, "Sing us a song for the King of the Groundhogs!" (These boys were often called "Hog Boys," although sometimes people did not call them anything and just threw stones at them.)
If the King of the Groundhogs saw his shadow at dawn on February 2nd, he was set free; otherwise, he was eaten. In times of famine, he was eaten no matter what he saw.
In the 1880s, Groundhog Day became commercialised, and now bears no resemblance to its original celebration. Perhaps saddest of all, uncounted numbers of groundhog recipes, passed from mother to daughter over the generations, are lost forever.
Groundhog Day originated in the Middle Ages. Each year, on February 1st, after a special blessing, all the men in the village would take part in a great collective groundhog hunt. The groundhogs would be skinned, gutted (with the liver saved), and soaked in brine overnight. Their flesh would be cooked with special spices (no village used quite the same spice combinati...on as any other) and consumed in a great feast on February 2nd.
The fat of the groundhogs would be rendered and made into candles. A good hunt would result in enough groundhog fat for a 6 week supply of candles; in other words, for the rest of the winter. This was the origin of the Church holiday of Candlemas.
However, there was always one groundhog who was captured alive and not killed. He was deemed "King of the Groundhogs" and before dawn on February 2nd, the young boys of the village would take him from door to door, crying out, "Sing us a song for the King of the Groundhogs!" (These boys were often called "Hog Boys," although sometimes people did not call them anything and just threw stones at them.)
If the King of the Groundhogs saw his shadow at dawn on February 2nd, he was set free; otherwise, he was eaten. In times of famine, he was eaten no matter what he saw.
In the 1880s, Groundhog Day became commercialised, and now bears no resemblance to its original celebration. Perhaps saddest of all, uncounted numbers of groundhog recipes, passed from mother to daughter over the generations, are lost forever.
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