"The Bear Went Over the Mountain" is a campfire song sung to the tune of For He's a Jolly Good Fellow,[1] which, in turn, got its melody from the French tune Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre (Marlborough is going to war).
Deitsch folklorist Don Yoder postulates that the song may have its origins in Germanic traditions similar to Grundsaudaag, or Groundhog Day.
In some German-speaking areas, foxes or bears were seen as weather prognosticators instead.
The belief was that a bear would come out of his lair to check whether he could see "over the mountain".
If the weather was clear, the bear would put an end to hibernation and demolish his lair.