Almost since the founding of America, there have been many illiterate peasants who have followed the lead of Ministers and educated citizens whose wisdom has helped them survive farming in the North American wilderness. Among the PA Dutch people, many of these literate leaders had written Fraktur documents to teach religion and educate others how to better live their lives, illuminating their wisdom in folk art designs in which cousins could admire their teachers, many of our forefathers who knew nothing about the new world, soon learned native folklore which allow them to survive at a time when we did not have public or church schools.
PA Dutch rural folklore was important in providing Rhineland peasants with knowledge of becoming successful American farmers. Although most PA Deitsch folklore revolved around their religion, it is dubious that Groundsau Day (Groundhog Day) was purely an American idea. That perhaps a minister or public citizens wanted to make local peasants aware that they should be checking their farm equipment for the current spring planting. Thus, this myth about the hibernating groundhog was invented that lazy farmers may be aware of the coming spring season that they might check their farming tools and harness should spring be early that year!
Likewise, as February 2nd was Groundhog Day in which farmers mended and prepared their farming tools for spring planting, many of the PA Dutch made fachnaghts on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, usually frying hundreds of them to eat in the cold mornings before Easter to use up their cans of lard in the pantry, because lard could not be eaten in the Easter fasting season. However, wise and prudent PA Dutch farmers took and left over Fawesnacht frying Lord to the barn door wagon shed increased their plow shares and iron tools to facilitate its use in the early spring planting season, another folk way in which a prudent individual made sure his equipment was ready for spring planting.
Thus, the groundhog myth was a folkway in which prudent farmers and intelligent citizens encouraged individuals to prepare for spring planting once the winter season was over, so these immigrants can avail themselves of a longer growing season once winter is over and frost is no longer a problem. Therefore, intelligent farmers were actually ready for spring planting well in advance of a climatic break in the winter weather, because February 2nd, Groundhog Day, gave farmers a head start preparing their plows in our house.
Much like Saint Patrick’s Day was the folk day in which the PA Dutch believed in planting their onions and sweet peas in order to take advantage of a longer growing season in North America. And any snow that fell after spring onions were planted, March 17th, was called an “onion snow,” which usually did not affect the growth of the onions. However, some modern gardeners planted their sweet peas in the house and then transplanted them outside when they were sure a frost would not affect them.
Richard L.T. Orth is assistant director of the American Folklife Institute in Kutztown.
