<P> In Croatia and Serbia, Orthodox Christians have a tradition that on February 2 (Candlemas) or February 15 (Sretenje, The Meeting of the Lord), the bear will awaken from winter dormancy, and if it sees (meets) its own shadow in this sleepy and confused state, it will get scared and go back to sleep for an additional 40 days, thus prolonging the winter . Thus, if it is sunny on Sretenje, it is a sign that the winter is not over yet . If it is cloudy, it is a good sign that the winter is about to end . </P> <P> Similarly in Germany, on the 27th of June, they recognize the Seven Sleepers' Day (Siebenschläfertag). If it rains that day, the rest of summer is supposedly going to be rainy . As well, in the United Kingdom, the 15th of July is known as St. Swithin's day . This was traditionally believed that, if it rained on that day, it would rain for the next 40 days and nights . </P> <Ol> <Li> Jump up ^ February 2, 1840 read: "Today the Germans say the groundhog comes out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he returns in and remains there 40 days ." </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ Some sources stated that Morris's February 4, 1841 entry was the oldest . It read: "Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate ." </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ Some books attribute this positively to Clymer Freas . </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ Also styled H.C. Freas, H. Clymer Freas, or Clymer H. Freas </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ Other contemporaries of Freas (his colleagues at the paper and fellow - members of the club, etc .) have been given credit for the promotion of Groundhog Day: W.O. Smith, another editor of the paper and later elected to U.S. Congress, cartoonist C.M. Payne, and John P. Cowan of the Pittsburgh Gazette . </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ a combination of vodka, milk, eggs and orange juice, among many other ingredients . </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ There were beliefs in Switzerland and France that the marmot predicted the weather, according to MacMillan . "S.S.R." also speculated there might be similar lore for the European marmot, Arctomys alpinus . </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ Noted by Uwe Johnson; the formula was printed in the Voß un Haas (nds) "Fox and Hare" calendars of Mecklenburg . </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ "Of course everybody knows that February 2 is groundhog day . If the dox (the dialect word for groundhog) sees its shadow on this day, the belief is that six weeks of bad weather will follow". </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ The letter "â" is actually "a with circumflex below". </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ Signed "S.S.R." of Lancaster, Pennsylvania . Note that S.S. Rathvon wrote the editorial "The Ground - Hog" and "More of the Ground - hogs" where he refers to the creature as "Old Arctomyx" in the editorial in the March 1884 issue of the Lancaster Farmer XV:3 . </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ A couplet the same as this except "two winters" in standard English is given in Davis (1985), p. 103, alongside two other variants . </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ "Second Winter" appears to be a neologism that paraphrases "two winters". </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ "Si Sol splenescat Maria purificante / Major erit glacies post festum quam fuit ante". Note that Maria purificante or The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the reference to Candlemas day, since this is the biblical event that Candlemas is supposed to commemorate . </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ Drake also states that the German lore about the badger predicting the winter's duration was firmly accepted in New England . The groundhog, badger / bear, and hedgehog are all noted as paralleling each other . </Li> </Ol> <Li> Jump up ^ February 2, 1840 read: "Today the Germans say the groundhog comes out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he returns in and remains there 40 days ." </Li>

What other countries have similar traditions to groundhog day