Groundhog Lodge No. 9 Fersommling, Program Booklet Cover, 1965

"Die elft yairlich Fersommling uns Fesht fon da Grundsow Lodsch Nummer Neina on Da Deef Runn. Mittwuch ovet der sivve un zwanzichscht Chanevari om halver siwwa owets im Nei Hilltown Schuulhause, Hilltown, Pa."

Rough translation: "The eleventh yearly gathering and feast of the Groundhog Lodge Number Nine on the Deep Run, Wednesday evening, January 27, at 6:30 in the evening in the New Hilltown Schoolhouse, Hilltown, Pa."

A groundhog adorns the cover of this 1965 booklet containing the program for a gathering of the all-male members of Grundsow Lodsch Nummer Neina (Groundhog Lodge Number Nine). The lodge is one of several groups that meet to promote the Pennsylvania Dutch language, and get-togethers often take place on or near Groundhog Day (February 2) each year.

For another Grundsow Lodsch item, see Groundhog Lodge No. 12, Gathering, Shartlesville, Pa., May 4, 1990 (below). For further information, track down a copy of William W. Donner's book, Serious Nonsense: Groundhog Lodges, Versammlinge, and Pennsylvania German Heritage (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2016).

By the way, the Pennsylvania German Groundhog Lodges and their gatherings, which began in the 1930s, are distinct from the celebrations featuring the nationally known Punxsutawney Phil, who's been prognosticating the weather for the Punxsutawney, Pa., Groundhog Club since 1886, and other local groundhog celebrities, including Octoraro Orphie, who's the weather forecaster for the Slumbering Groundhog Lodge of Quarryville, Pa. (see below), which has been in existence since 1908.