March Equinox, Spring, Easter

March Equinox in Plano, Texas, U.S.A. is on Saturday, March 19, 2016 at 11:30 PM CDT. The March equinox or Northward equinox is the equinox on the earth when the Sun appears to leave the southern hemisphere and cross the celestial equator, heading northward as seen from earth. In the northern hemisphere the March equinox is known as the vernal equinox, and in the southern hemisphere as the autumnal equinox. On the equinoxes the Sun shines directly on the equator and the length of day and night is nearly equal. This also signals the first day of Spring for the Northern Hemisphere or the first day of Fall in the Southern Hemisphere.

In 325CE the Council of Nicaea established that Easter would be held on the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox.

Seven Spring Facts

The vernal (spring) equinox (‘equal night’) is the day when the center of the Sun is visible for exactly 12 hours. That is not the same as the ‘equilux’ (equal light) when there are 12 hours of daylight from the Sun’s first appearance and its going down. Australia and other parts of the Southern Hemisphere begin the first day of autumn at the same time and there is a movement to call this event the March Equinox or Northward Equinox to avoid a North Hemisphere bias.

Astronomically, spring officially begins on the spring equinox.

The spring and autumn equinoxes are the only days when the Sun rises directly due east and sets due west in the northern hemisphere.

The reason there is more daylight during the spring is the earth’s axis tilts toward the sun at this time of year.

We have used the word ‘spring’ for the season since the 16th century. Before that spring was used for centuries to apply to the source of a river and the spring season was known as Lent or Lenten.

The Slatina spring in Slovenia is alleged to have been discovered by the mythological winged horse Pegasus.

The earliest known use of the term ‘spring-cleaning’ was in 1857.