Stupid Groundhogs.....How the hell did this tradition start anyway?

Well the oversized rodent saw his shadow today, but other groundhogs didn't...... So where does that leave us? I'm not exactly sure, but I think the Mayan's used groundhogs to predict the weather and the end of the world. This is a very strange tradition and I am actually curious how it started that modern society worships a varmint....... Let's take a look. P.S. I made one of these up..... So, enjoy guessing which one. 

Theory #1 Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans,^[9] the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate. 

Theory #2 In Scotland the tradition may derive from this English Poem:

As the light grows longer
The cold grows stronger
If Candlemas be fair and bright
Winter will have another flight
If Candlemas be cloud and rain
Winter will be gone and not come again
A farmer should on Candlemas day
Have half his corn and half his hay
On Candlemas day if thorns hang a drop
You can be sure of a good pea crop

Theory #3 - Many Native American tribes that inhabited the Northeast region during the time of first settlement believed the groundhog to be spiritual creature. Since the creature lived in the earth, they believed the animal to be closer to the earths changes and was a sign of fertility both of crop and women. This was conveyed to settlers, the Pilgrims, and the tradition has always stuck although slightly changed. The actual tradition consisted of the natives, catch the ground hog, torturing it for information, and then eating it to obtain his power. The natives would mix the ground hog meat in a stew of with different berries and hallucinogenic mushrooms which gave them powers to see into the earths future changes. Then they would make a human sacrifice to the earth to ensure a fertile spring. 

Theory #4 And some people believe: In western countries in the Northern Hemisphere the official first day of spring is almost seven weeks (46–48 days) after Groundhog Day, on March 20 or March 21. The custom could have been a folk embodiment of the confusion created by the collision of two calendrical systems. Some ancient traditions marked the change of season at cross-quarter days such as Imbolc when daylight first makes significant progress against the night. Other traditions held that spring did not begin until the length of daylight overtook night at the Vernal Equinox. So an arbiter, the proundhog/hedgehog, was incorporated as a yearly custom to settle the two traditions. Sometimes spring begins at Imbolc, and sometimes winter lasts 6 more weeks until the equinox.^[10]

"It's GROUNDHOG DAY!!!" In celebration I have some clips of Groundhog Day with Bill Murry