The spotlight will be on Gobbler’s Knob in western Pennsylvania early Friday morning, when handlers of a groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil will announce whether he saw his own shadow and predicts six more weeks of winter or an early spring.

Thousands are expected to attend the annual event that exploded in popularity after the 1993 Bill Murray movie, “Groundhog Day.”

It’s part of a tradition rooted in European agricultural life, marking the midpoint between the shortest day of the year on the winter solstice and the spring equinox. It’s also a time of year that figures in the Celtic calendar and the Christian holiday of Candlemas.

According to the National Weather Service, if Minden had its on Punxsutawney Phil, there is a fair chance he would see his shadow, as the forecast calls for partly sunny.

Historians have found a reference in an 1841 diary to groundhog weather forecasts in early February among families of German descent in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, according to the late Don Yoder, a University of Pennsylvania professor whose 2003 book about Groundhog Day explored the Celtic connection.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) recently urged the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club to let Phil retire, saying “Punxsutawney Phil is not a meteorologist and did not ask for this job! They (groundhogs) don’t want to live in Plexiglass containers in libraries where they can’t do anything that’s natural and important to them, and they don’t want to be used to predict the weather. The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club needs to relocate Phil and Phyllis—the other groundhog they confine in the library—to a reputable sanctuary where they could enjoy a natural life.”

We want to know what our readers think? Is the public taking advantage of Phil and Phyllis? Share your opinion in the comments section of Webster Parish Journal’s Facebook page.