Groundhog Day: Prophecy, Rebirth, and Renewal

This chapter first explains how Christian and Celtic traditions resulted in this holiday’s date. It then reviews how the holiday evolved beginning in medieval Europe, where the mythological animal-prophet was originally the bear, based on its emerging from a cave renewed from its wintry “little death” (hibernation) and its association with honey. The chapter shows how ancient and medieval mythology concerning bears and caves formed the basis of the holiday, and then traces how we ended up celebrating it using the lowly groundhog. The chapter discusses how the mythology of bears and caves relates to human concerns of wisdom, prophecy, enlightenment, death-and-rebirth, and other transformations. The chapter ends by describing how these motifs are reflected in the Bill Murray film Groundhog Day.