And now it's time for Who's Smarted.
Psst, hey, smarty pants.
When it's the beginning of February and you just can't wait for winter to end, where's the best place to go?
Okay, I'm hearing warm spots like Florida, Hawaii, the Caribbean.
Ooh, someone said the Canary Islands.
Yep, those are all nice.
But I'm talking about a place where there's a big annual celebration with tens of thousands of people who wake up early in the morning and gather in the shivering cold to get a weather report of sorts from a groundhog.
Yep, it's a thing. Smarty pants, welcome to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, home of the world -famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil.
People around these parts say this particular groundhog has a special, magical ability.
Do you know what it is?
Is it A, Phil can predict the weather, B, Phil can change colors, or C, Phil can fly?
The answer, of course, is A.
Phil can predict the weather.
Whoa. Allegedly. Ah.
Now, let's see how well you know the legend.
If Phil comes out of his hole in the ground on Groundhog Day and sees his shadow, does it mean we should expect more or less winter weather ahead?
The answer is... This is Chet Nickerson reporting live from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where the groundhog has just seen his shadow.
That means six more weeks of winter!
Brr! Better bundle up, trustee!
Yep, seeing a shadow means more winter.
And no shadow means springtime is right around the corner.
What do you think of that, smarty pants?
I think it's a sham.
A sham? That's right, a sham, a charade, a fake, a fraud, pure make -believe.
That's some accusation.
And you are? Call me babe.
Babe? As in Babe Ruth, the legendary baseball player?
No, as in Babe the Badger.
Ah, yes, I failed to note that you are a short squat furry creature with sharp claws and a long pointy snout.
Not a legendary baseball player.
Nope, although I was pretty legendary back in the day.
You see, before the Groundhog, people counted on me to predict the weather.
Are you saying Groundhog Day used to be Badger Day?
That's right. But while I was a huge part of the holiday, the idea behind it goes way, way back.
Hm, smarty pants. When did the bizarre practice of getting weather predictions from groundhogs...
Or badgers. Or badgers begin?
And how often is the groundhog or badger's weather predictions correct?
And what do we mean when we say something is like Groundhog Day?
It's time for another whiff of history and science on Who Smarted?
Who's Smarted? Who's Smart?
Is it you? Is it me?
Is it science or history?
Listen up, everyone.
We make smarting lots of fun on Who Smarted?
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Quick question, what is a groundhog?
Is it A, a giant squirrel, B, a woodchuck, or C, a rodent known as a marmot?
The answer is all three.
Groundhogs and woodchucks are the same thing.
And they're closely related to that familiar rodent, the squirrel.
Groundhogs are furry creatures close in size and weight to a pet cat.
They live in multi -level underground burrows, some longer than 65 feet or 20 meters.
As such, they have a real talent for digging holes.
But what about weather forecasting?
I think it's a sham.
A sham? That's right, a sham.
A charade, a fake, a fraud.
Pure make -believe. Hold on.
Aren't you... Call me Babe.
Right, and then I said, as in Babe Ruth, the legendary baseball player.
And you said... No, as in Babe the Badger.
Hold on. Haven't we had this conversation before?
Have we? You also said Groundhog Day used to be Badger Day.
I did, and it was. But not at the very beginning.
This holiday goes back well before Groundhogs and Badgers.
Can you guess how far back it goes?
Smarty Pants, how old is the earliest version of Groundhog Day?
200 years? 1 ,000 years?
2 ,000 years? The roots of Badger, Groundhog Day, go back more than 2 ,000 years, to prehistoric times.
Historians believe it was all started by the Celts.
The Celtic people are associated with Ireland, but in prehistoric times, they were all over Europe.
And these people had four major festivals each year.
Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, and Lunasa.
Smarty Pants, can you guess what these four festivals celebrated?
Was it A, Phases of the Moon, B, Changing Seasons, or C, Basketball Championships?
If you said B, Changing Seasons, you're right.
The seasons are very important since they impact fishing and farm crops.
You know, the food supply.
These days, a season changes at a solstice, which is the shortest or longest day of the year, or at an equinox, a day when daylight and nighttime are about equal.
But centuries ago, people marked seasonal changes at a day halfway between a solstice and equinox.
So instead of March, June, September, and December, seasons changed on May 1st, August 1st, November 1st, and ta -da, February 1st.
But Groundhog Day is celebrated February 2nd.
Sheesh, don't you think I know that?
Stupid groundhog. Anyway, the Celtic holiday on February 1st, Imbolc, stretched to sundown on February 2nd.
Ah, I see. Hundreds of years later, when Christianity spread through Europe, people didn't want to lose the ancient Celtic holidays, so they simply renamed them.
Beltane became May Day, which is still a huge holiday in Europe.
Samhain became All Saints Day, also a holiday today, and of course, the evening before is Halloween.
Trick or treat! Lunasa in August became something called Loaf Mass Day, which had something to do with bread.
Today, it's known as Spider -Man Day.
Spider -Man Day? Yeah, Loaf Mass didn't stick, but Spider -Man, created in August of 1962, sure did.
Uh, but that don't matter.
The day we care about is Imbolc, which became...
Groundhog Day? Candlemas.
Oh. Yeah, it was a day when Christians brought candles to church for a blessing.
But get this. People didn't give up their weather superstitions.
They were concerned about their crops, especially on that day.
Can you guess what they thought would happen if it rained on Candlemas?
Smarty Pants, do you think people were upset or happy if it rained on Candlemas?
Here, listen to a poem from 1678, read by world -renowned weather fortune teller, Virga.
Yes, yes, here is my prediction.
If Candlemas Day be fair and bright, winter will have another flight.
If on Candlemas Day it be shower and rain Winter is gone and will not come again Thank you I predict much happiness and sunshine in your future Hey, don't blame me I is just a messenger Wait, are you saying people wanted rain on Candlemas Day Because they thought it would mean an early spring?
That's what we're saying.
Hmm. Smarty Pants, does that sound familiar?
Yep, it's just like how the groundhog might predict an early spring.
You mean badger. It was badger day first.
Right. Smarty Pants, any guesses who came up with badger day?
Was it A. The Romans, B.
The French, or C. The Germans?
Here is the answer, in musical form.
That's right. It's C.
The Germans. The Germans also believed a sunny candle mass meant another six weeks of miserable winter weather.
But apparently, they needed proof whether it was sunny or not.
Hello? Just look outside the window!
But no. Instead, they looked at badgers and other small critters.
According to legend, if the sun was out on candle mass, these animals would cast a shadow and would crawl back into their holes, and winter would continue.
The Germans would eventually call Candlemas Badger Day.
Right. So how did Badger Day become Groundhog Day?
You can thank your fellow Americans for that.
Specifically, the German immigrants who came to America in the 1700s.
Smarty Pants, when Germans came to America, in what state did many of them settle?
Was it Florida, Vermont, or Pennsylvania?
The answer is C, Pennsylvania.
And Pennsylvania, of course, is where the most famous Groundhog Day celebration takes place, in a town called Pugsatawney.
And, just like the old Candlemas Day tradition, if the groundhog, formerly the badger, sees its shadow, it predicts six more weeks of winter.
I think it's a sham.
Yes, you said that already.
Call me Babe. I know.
You're... Babe the Badger.
I swear we've done all this before.
Oh, really? So you know Groundhog Day was once Badger Day?
Yes! But Smarty Pants, can you guess why German immigrants switched from badgers to groundhogs?
Was it because, A, Badgers bite people, B, Badgers were hard to find in Pennsylvania, or C, Groundhogs are more intelligent?
Hey, badgers are just as smart as groundhogs.
Possibly! But that's not the answer.
The answer is B, Badgers are scarce in Pennsylvania.
But you know what there are a lot of?
That's right, groundhogs.
And since groundhogs are similar to Badgers, they ditched me for him.
And on February 2nd, 1887, some guys from Punxsutawney continued the Badger Day, Groundhog Day tradition, with a silly little public ceremony.
And this ceremony continued year after year until it grew into a massive thing.
And that's how this groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, became a huge star.
And not Babe the Badge.
To be fair, Phil did have some help from a hit movie, the same movie that got people to say, it's just like Groundhog Day when a certain thing happens.
What thing? I'll tell you right after this quick break.
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And now, back to who smarted.
Smarty Pants, you've heard how the world's most famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, started predicting the weather on February 2nd.
But how often are Phil's predictions correct?
Nine out of ten times?
Seven out of ten times?
Or five out of ten times?
Well, according to American and Canadian Weather Services, Phil is right about...
Half the time. Or five out of ten times.
Maybe even less. Yet every year, thousands of people still flock to Pennsylvania to hear his prediction.
I think it's a sham.
Oh, no. Not again. That's right.
A sham. A charade. A fake.
A fraud. Pure make -believe.
I don't understand.
Call me Babe. Babe the Badger.
We've done this already.
It's just like... Like what?
Like Groundhog Day.
It is? Did you see a shadow?
No. No, not that. When people feel like life is repeating itself or they're stuck in a loop that's doing the same thing over and over again, they'll say it's like Groundhog Day.
What's that got to do with groundhogs?
Nothing. It comes from a funny movie called Groundhog Day, in which the main character repeats the same day over and over and over, which also happens to be Groundhog Day.
Well, it's Groundhog Day.
Again? Every morning he wakes up to find everyone saying and doing the same things, and he's forced to live through an endless loop of Groundhog Day.
And you're saying that's happening now to you?
Yep. Oh, wow. When does it end?
Hopefully by the next episode of Who Smarted.
But you know what? If this day keeps repeating, it isn't the worst.
I got the smarty pants smarting with me.
Nice. And I've got the crowds, the hope of spring, and of course, the groundhog.
Hey, what about me?
Oh, and yes, I've got you, babe.
Two super shout -outs to Cole and Clay in Concord, California!
I hear you two smarties listen to every new episode of Who Smarted at bedtime and love sharing what you learn with family and friends at school.
Sounds like you'll be doing my job one day.
Thanks for smarting with us.
This episode, Groundhog Day, was written by Dave Badger -Baudry and voiced by Punxsutawney, Phil Jeremy, Olivia the Oracle Davis, Adam Chux Davis, and Jerry Colbert.
Technical direction and sound design by Josh Hates the Winter Han.
Who Smarted is recorded and mixed at the Relic Room Studios.
Our associate producer is Max Sonny Kamaski.
The theme song is by Brian No Shadow Suarez with lyrics written and performed by Adam Tex Davis.
Who Smarted was created and produced by Adam Tex Davis and Jerry Colbert.
This has been an Atomic Entertainment production.
