Equinox translates literally to equal night.
On Sunday, March 20, 2016, the sun crosses directly over the
Earth's equator. That moment is known as
the vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere announcing the arrival of spring
and the autumnal equinox in the Southern Hemisphere announcing the arrival of
fall. A second equinox will occur on September
22, 2016.
The fact that the Earth has distinctive seasons is due to
the 23.4 degree tilt of the Earth's axis.
The Earth receives more sunlight (longer daylight hours) in the summer
and less sunlight (fewer daylight hours) in the winter. The tilt of the axis makes the seasons
opposite in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. At the north pole summer gives six months of
daylight while at the same time the south pole is experiencing six months of
darkness. The closer you are to the
equator, the daily hours of daylight and darkness become more equal.
The fall and spring equinoxes are the only two times during
the year when the sun rises due east and sets due west. Modern astronomy aside, people have
recognized the astronomical connection to the season changes for thousands of
years. The ancients of various
civilizations all over the world built structures that illustrate this—temples
dedicated to their various gods that modern man recognize as
observatories. Not only the spring and
fall equinox days, but also the summer and winter solstice days.
I think it's also interesting to note a connection between
the spring equinox and Groundhog Day (another holiday derived from the
practices and celebrations of the ancients).
If the groundhog sees his shadow on February 2, we have six more weeks
of winter. And by coincidence that six weeks takes us to within a few days of the
spring equinox.
A little bit of equinox trivia: According to folklore, you can stand a raw
egg on its end on the equinox. One spring, a few minutes before the vernal
equinox, twenty-four almanac editors tested the theory. For a full work day, seventeen out of
twenty-four eggs stood up on the large end.
Then three days following the equinox, they tried the same test
again. And guess what? The results were similar. Perhaps the second test was still too close
to the equinox? :)
2 comments:
Great information! And Happy Spring!
Ashantay: I'm always happy to see Spring, although I have to admit that we didn't have much of a winter...very mild weather, unlike other parts of the country.
Thanks for your comment.
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