21st March: Happy Spring Equinox Day
The Spring Equinox falls on 21st March each year in the Northern hemisphere (and autumnal equinox in the Southern Hemisphere). The word equinox comes from two Latin words meaning equal and night. The Spring Equinox is the beginning of spring and the end of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. This write up is to say Happy Spring Equinox Day.
In the name of ALLAH, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
21st March: Happy Spring Equinox Day
The Spring Equinox falls on 21st March each year in the Northern hemisphere (and autumnal equinox in the Southern Hemisphere). The word equinox comes from two Latin words meaning equal and night. The Spring equinox occurs in the Northern Hemisphere around March 20 or 21, when the Sun reaches the northbound celestial equator. The vernal equinox also marks the beginning of spring, which lasts up to the summer solstice, according to the astronomical concept of seasons. The Spring Equinox of March is known as the vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and as the autumnal equinox in the Southern.
On the Gregorian calendar, the Northward equinox can occur as early as 19 March or as late as 21 March at Greenwich. For a common year the computed time slippage is about 5 hours 49 minutes later than the previous year, and for a leap year about 18 hours 11 minutes earlier than the previous year. Balancing the increases of the common years against the losses of the leap years keeps the calendar date of the March equinox from drifting more than one day from 20 March each year.
In astronomy, the March equinox is the zero point of sidereal time and, consequently, right ascension. It also serves as a reference for calendars and celebrations in many human cultures and religions. In its apparent motion on the day of an equinox, the Sun's disk crosses the Earth's horizon directly to the east at dawn—rising; and again, some 12 hours later, directly to the west at dusk—setting. The Spring Equinox, like all equinoxes, is characterized by having an almost exactly equal amount of daylight and night across most latitudes on Earth.
The Babylonian calendar began with the first full moon after the vernal equinox, the day after the Sumerian goddess Inanna's return from the underworld (later known as Ishtar), in the Akitu ceremony, with parades through the Ishtar Gate to the Eanna temple, and the ritual re-enactment of the marriage to Tammuz, or Sumerian Dummuzi.
The Persian calendar begins each year at the northward equinox, observationally determined at Tehran. Nowruz, the Persian New Year It's tied to the spring equinox and has roots in the Persian Empire. Nowruz is a 3,000-year-old tradition cherished today in Iran, Afghanistan, throughout Central Asia and beyond and is celebrated by more than 300 million people worldwide. But what makes it special is that Nowruz marks the arrival of spring in Iran but also the beginning of the new year to celebrate "Renewal and Rebirth."
The Indian national calendar starts the year on the day next to the vernal equinox on 22 March (21 March in leap years) with a 30-day month (31 days in leap years), then has 5 months of 31 days followed by 6 months of 30 days. The Indian Hindu calendar, also called the Shaka calendar, in use for thousands of years, starts with the month of Chaitra and ends with Phalguna. This traditional lunar calendar is deeply interwoven with the spiritual and agricultural lives of the people.
Ostara: Spring Equinox (Ostara) - March 20th/21st: This marks the Spring Equinox. This is the Pagan "Easter" - or rather, this is the day that Christians borrowed to be their Easter. It is traditionally the day of equilibrium, neither harsh winter or the merciless summer, and is a time of childish wonder. As a day of equilibrium, it is a good time to perform self accountability. Spring Equinox led festivals are also about fertility where seeds are blessed for planting soon after. It is common to use this time to free oneself from things which hinder progress.
On Spring by Eliza Wolcott
Return sweet spring, and let thy jays
Descend to cheer the ground,
While each glad field her tribute pays,
Bedeck'd with flowers around.
While budding trees, adorn'd with green,
Unfold their fragrant leaves;
And cheerful songsters there are seen
Their webbed nests to weave.
Now let the joyful farmer strew
His seed on broken soil,
While with delight he hopes to view
The harvest crown his toil.
And now may gentle showers descend,
To cheer the smiling meads,
While their soft winds the zephyrs lend
To weave the tender reeds.
Now gentle streams refresh the vales,
Exhaling odors sweet,
Meandering down the hills and dales,
And makes the scene complete.
A Spring Song by Mathilde Blind
Dark sod pierced by flames of flowers,
Dead wood freshly quickening,
Bright skies dusked with sudden showers,
Lit by rainbows on the wing.
Cuckoo calls and young lambs' bleating,
Nimble airs which coyly bring
Little gusts of tender greeting
From shy nooks where violets cling.
Half-fledged buds and birds and vernal
Fields of grass dew-glistening;
Evanescent life's eternal
Resurrection, bridal Spring!
Spring Showers by David Macon
I woke to a Spring shower
The melody resonated through my mind
It took me back to times of pleasure
A childhood free of toils and woes
It seemed to be a time of virtue
All that I saw and did was laughter and play
The things that builds memories into treasures
As I woke I felt my youthful glee
Of what I used to be
Now I have those memories
To replay when I hear a Spring shower
Exhume those wonderful days
Loveliest of Trees by A.E. Housman
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.
Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.
The Seasons: Spring by James Thomson
As thus the patient Dam assiduous sits,
Not to be tempted from her tender Task,
Or by sharp Hunger, or by smooth Delight,
Tho the whole loosen’d Spring around Her blows,
Her sympathizing Lover takes his Stand
High on th’ opponent Bank, and ceaseless sings
The tedious Time away; or else supplies
Her place a moment, while she sudden flits
To pick the scanty Meal. Th’ appointed Time
With pious Toil fulfill’d, the callow Young,
Warm’d and expanded into perfect Life,
Their brittle Bondage break, and come to Light,
A helpless Family, demanding Food
With constant Clamour. O what Passions then,
What melting Sentiments of kindly Care,
On the new Parents seize! Away they fly
Affectionate, and undesiring bear
The most delicious Morsel to their Young,
Which equally distributed, again
The Search begins. Even so a gentle Pair,
By Fortune sunk, but form’d of generous Mold,
And charm’d with Cares beyond the vulgar Breast,
In some lone Cott amid the distant Woods,
Sustain’d alone by providential Heaven,
Oft, as they weeping eye their infant Train,
Check their own Appetites and give them all.
