Candlemas Weather Oracle

🕯 CANDLEMAS WEATHER ORACLE

German · Germany / Pennsylvania Dutch

“Wenn der Dachs an Lichtmess seinen Schatten sieht, geht er wieder in sein Loch für sechs Wochen.”

INTERPRETATION

If the badger sees his shadow on Candlemas, he returns to his burrow for six more weeks of winter. German immigrants in Pennsylvania substituted the groundhog for the badger, creating Groundhog Day.

RELATED DATE

February 2 — Lichtmess (Candlemas)

German folk tradition, brought to America by 18th-century immigrants