It’s a regular winter morning. Your eyes blink open to the sounds of voices and loud music. You attempt to burrow deeper into your bed, but the noise just won’t go away. Suddenly a hand grabs you by your neck and raises you high, up into bright lights and cheering crowds and bearded men in tuxedos. You attempt to wiggle free, trying to convey your reluctance to being there, but no one listens, no one cares. It’s as if they can’t even understand you. You’re frightened, lost, deserted. You’re also one foot tall, clawed, and covered in hair. You’re Punxsutawney Phil.
Despite the goofiness of the holiday, the tradition itself does have some history. Around the fifth century, the European Celts believed that animals had supernatural powers at certain times of the year. Folklore from Europe indicated that animals, such as bears and badgers (if they came out of hibernation too early), would be frightened by their shadow and retreat back inside for four to six weeks. This tradition eventually made its way to North America, but since badgers were scarce, groundhogs were substituted, and Groundhog Day was born.
Groundhog Day worked fine as a national holiday- back in 1886. But in the era of weather satellites and 24 hour news, what is the point of deluding ourselves into believing that the world will suddenly speed up its rotation around the sun and give us warmth-all because the Groundhog God deemed it so? Expecting six more weeks of winter if a drowsy rodent sees his shadow is a nuisance to the people who actually watch the weather channels – you know, the 99% who don’t wear top hats and manhandle a small woodland creature. I understand that Groundhog Day is seen as a tradition in this country, and by no means do I believe that the entire holiday should be scrapped, but a modern upgrade is desperately needed if the older generations want the younger generations to carry on the tradition. Lets face it- not many teenagers woke up on February 2 thinking of groundhogs, and that isn’t going to change as we age.
The idea of a robotic replica in the place of the rowdy rodent has been tossed around for a while now, and I say that that may be the best plan. Not only because P. Phil isn’t allowed to go outside on his own and is probably considering reenacting Shawshank Redemption escape scene by now; but because maybe a robot will attract the generation that will soon take over. I’m sure there are plenty of able-bodied MIT graduates who wouldn’t mind creating a groundhog robot, and robots to the modern teen are like computers to the older adult -a whole world of unexplored (and sometimes uncomprehensible) possibilities. Groundhog Day will never officially disappear from the calendar, but the print is fading fast. Time to put away the top hats.
