Ever since the first Groundhog Day on Feb. 2, 1887, people have been fawning over the star of the holiday, Punxsutawney Phil. Phil is a groundhog who resides in the burrows of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

According to history.com, the first Groundhog Day took place at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Once immigration to America started, the Germans assigned the groundhog to predict the weather, as they were bountiful in Pennsylvania.

Groundhog day has some debatable topics surrounding it, especially whether it is culturally significant.

“For me, Groundhog Day is not a very important holiday,” Lauryn Rhodes (12) said. “It’s fun, but I don’t put a lot of scientific accuracy on Phil and his predictions.”

The accuracy of Phil’s predictions is 39 percent according to livescience.com, which may be why plenty of people think that Groundhog Day has no important meaning.

Sydney Gunn (10) has a similar opinion on Groundhog Day. 

“Besides the movies made about Groundhog Day, I’m not sure how much cultural impact it has had overall,” Gunn said.

Another thing that people have been taking into account over the years is if Groundhog Day is in any way a form of animal abuse. PETA’s website argues that if groundhogs naturally hibernate from November until March, forcing Punxsutawney Phil out of his burrow is animal cruelty.

“I could see how it could be a bit cruel,” Gunn said. “But it’s just like waking your dad up from a nap.”

Despite the controversies over the holiday, they don’t stop the folks in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania from continuing the American tradition.

This year, Phil predicted an early spring, and so far, his prediction seems like it’s on track, as we have been experiencing weather in the 40s and 50s.

Phil’s inner circle, which contains 15 members, claims that each summer they feed Phil one sip of “Groundhog Punch” that extends Phil’s life by seven years each sip he takes, as reported by mentalfloss.com. Groundhogs usually live six to eight years, which raises the question of the accuracy of Punxsutawney Phil’s age, which is currently claimed to be 133 years. Despite the fact that the tradition is over a century old, Phil’s inner circle still keeps the tradition alive.