As if America isn’t already crazy enough, on Thursday, Feb. 2, the country will watch as a 20-pound, immortal groundhog predicts the weather.

Although most groundhogs only live between six and eight years, Phil of Punxsutawney, Penn. has been forecasting the seasons for over 130 years with a less than 40 percent success rate, according to National Climatic Data Center.

“Punxsutawney Phil is the only true weather forecasting groundhog,” as stated by the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club website. “The others are just imposters.”

Legend has it that if Phil is able to see his shadow when he emerges on Gobbler’s Knob on Feb. 2, six more weeks of winter will follow. If he cannot see his shadow, spring will begin early.

But in some years, it has been unclear whether or not Phil could see his shadow. To eliminate this problem, president of the Inner Circle of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club Bill Deeley now speaks to Phil in Groundhogese, a language known only by the president and Phil, to discuss his prediction, according to Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. Deeley then translates Phil’s prognostication for the world.

“(Phil) has the ability and the attributes to take a complex meteorological phenomena to the general public in a way that is understandable, entertaining and descriptive,” Inner Circle member Butch Philliber said.

Phil is able to return and make his predictions every year with the help of a magical “groundhog punch” administered by the Inner Circle each summer at the annual Groundhog Picnic. The Groundhog Club claims this potion gives Phil seven more years of life.

But long before Phil was an iconic part of the celebration, candles were the means by which the weather was predicted.

Candlemas, a candlelit feast held by Christian Europeans in honor of Jesus’ birth and entrance to the temple as well as the purification of the Virgin Mary, takes place during the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, according to history.com. This holiday dates back to 380 CE Jerusalem.

It was said that if the sun shone brightly enough on Candlemas that small animals cast a shadow, then another 40 days of winter were in their futures.

When German immigrants came to the United States in the 1800s, they brought this tradition with them.
“The settlers found that plentiful and were the most intelligent and sensible animal to carry out the legend of Candlemas day,” according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club website.
Since then, the event has grown into a three-day festival that attracts tens of thousands of people to the small town each year.

“If that doesn’t put a smile on your face,” Philliber said, “you just don’t have the Groundhog Gene.”