I am writing 100 How-To essays. It is a big project. Here is why I am doing it. This is essay 40 of 100.
If you know anything about me, you know one of three things: I revere pie, I collect spatulas, and Groundhog Day is my favorite holiday. For the two of you who have never had a conversation with me in actual life, here are the reasons I think that this is best holiday:
It celebrates a rodent, and not something remotely controversial like Jesus or the United States or even a civil hero. Some people hate groundhogs, but very few hate them with fervor. When asked, most people would rank their feelings about groundhogs as, “No Opinion."
It takes place in the beginning of February. This is the worst time of year for most people. There is little salvageable daylight, it’s brutally cold, and the Holidays with a capital H are not distracting everyone from the horrible cold and terrible darkness. February 2 is a full month after the last holiday, New Years Day, which can stretch a little bit as people have resolutions and hopes and dreams. By February 2, though, those have all worn off and everyone is miserable again. That’s exactly when we need a holiday, wouldn’t you agree?
The greeting card moguls have not yet ruined Groundhog Day. Depending on who you are, you may feel that Bill Murray has. But we can all agree that Bill Murray isn’t as egregious as CAPITALISM.
The whole crux of this holiday is that it’s a myth about a rodent and its shadow and how this can influence the seasons. Something that makes this even more incredible is that he’s not even right HALF OF THE TIME. He is right roughly 35 percent of the time. The ridiculousness of this should warm the hearts of even the most spoilsport among us.
For the record, I am also a fan of all the “National Day” days, which you believe were invented by companies but were almost unilaterally not. (In fact, most of them were invented by a single woman who happens to live in Rogers Park! Here’s the Planet Money episode about it.) But Groundhog Day is the O.G. National Day. And it has made it onto the calendar. HUGE get.
Look: a holiday is what you make of it. You can wake up on Groundhog Day and thinking, “Oh, huh, Groundhog Day again. Nothing cool ever happens on this day. What a dumb day.” Or you can ask yourself WHY nothing cool every happens on Groundhog Day, and take it upon yourself to MAKE something cool happen on Groundhog Day.
Christmas is fun because YOU decide to put a tree in your living room (!?!??!?!?!) and YOUR family has a litany of recipes they like to make, and there happen to be songs you associate with it, and everyone agrees to celebrate together. You and your family (or chosen family, or friends, or community, or roommates, or college dorm floor, or office suite) can simply decide that you are going to celebrate something else this year, too. You do not need a nebulous body of authority to tell you what is worth celebrating when and to what extent.
As a person who has embraced Groundhog Day (and has made it a resolution many years simply to celebrate things more, because it’s a nice energy to put into the universe, and we have to be able to look forward to things or we’ll all turn gray and melt), I’ve learned that people will follow your lead if you, too, decide to celebrate Groundhog Day.
I like to throw a party. Here are the things I like to have at my party:
Cookie decorating contest. One of the only pre-made groundhog things that exists is a groundhog cookie cutter, so might as well take advantage of that and make some roll-and-cut cookies. Then just arrange the icing and sprinkles all pretty on the table, and let people do art that they can eat. Some things to keep in mind:
Only one cookie per participant can be entered into the contest: other cookies must all be eaten.
I make little plates with people’s names so that people can feel like they have done something official.
Everyone wins a prize. I have enough categories for all the party goers (Most Unique; Most Art School; Looks Like It Could Burst Into Song The Most; Most Topographical, Like A Map; Sublimest) and then once all the cookies are turned in I ask my husband to help me choose a winning category for each cookie. My friend Joe’s mom used to do this for us at Halloween and I remember always wanting to win “Most Inedible” because it seemed like the coolest, prankiest category. The point is, I remember this years and years later, and I think that grown ups like to feel like they have been seen the same way kids like to feel it.
If you don’t want to buy a Groundhog Day cookie cutter, I have also done this with cupcakes in the past. Just plain chocolate cupcakes; decorate them to look like a groundhog face. Easy!
This is the cupcake setup from way back in 2009.
In general, I like have art projects for grown ups at parties. I like for people who don’t like parties to still feel like there’s something to celebrate.
I created a conversation topics sheet that I print out and put in the living room every year. I have placed a photo here for you. I sort of hate parties, but I love structured activity. Last year I also had random coloring pages and crayons scattered around the house, for people like me who need to color in order to pay attention to a Susie-Talks-A-Lot type of guest. (I think this is true for me because I AM this type of guest. I just am the worst in all the ways.)
Food from the ground. I think this is the simplest way to do Groundhog Day food, and it also helps with earnest prayers for an earlier spring. Kale salad, root vegetables, you get the idea. Also probably GROUND beef would be good, but I’m vegan. Last year I made little tofu potato salads and fake hotdog groundhogs and they were disgusting so no one ate them but I felt pleased nevertheless.
Favor bags. Mine usually include sandwich cookies where one cookie is white and the other is chocolate (shadow and light cookies!), a poem about spring and a poem about winter, tea for if it’s winter longer, seed packets for if it’s spring sooner, and something with a groundhog on it, like a pin.
But here’s the cool thing: You don’t have to throw a whole party to enjoy Groundhog Day. You could start a tradition where you take a walk at dawn and the go out for waffles afterward. Or drive to your favorite frozen lake, or get a ridiculously decadent cake from a nearby bakery and watch “Groundhog Day” on a laptop screen all alone, or plant your seed starts, or ANYTHING! Think of the funnest thing you can think of to do, and then decide you will do that thing every year on Groundhog Day. It’s just THERE, waiting to be celebrated!
If we’re being really honest, Groundhog Day isn’t really about anything. You get to put whatever meaning you want inside it. Why pass up an opportunity like that? I hope you have a beautiful weekend, celebrating an arbitrary rodent, while the ground inevitably freezes and everyone else stubbornly clings to their dismal seasonal affects.
ALSO: Here are a few “Groundhog Day” cards you can print out and give to your friends, if you’re looking for something small and easy that you can accomplish right now.
