In astrology, the Spring Equinox, also known as the Vernal, or March Equinox, marks the time when the Sun enters the first degree of the first sign of the zodiac, Aries. This is the New Year of astrology, symbolizing birth and new awakenings.
The Equinoxes, Spring and Autumn, mark the two times during the year that day and night are of equal length. The word Equinox literally means equal night.
In the Northern Hemisphere,* the March Equinox represents the start of Spring, a time when Winter is over and the Earth is renewed. New leaves unfold on plants and fruit blossom floats in the air. Lambs and calves are born and chicks and ducklings are hatched.
After the March Equinox, the days start to become longer and the nights shorter, as the Sun overcomes the darkness. Aries is the sign of the exaltation of the Sun, meaning that the Sun is in its glory and about as happy as it can be in this sign.
This reemergence of the Sun and the beginnings of new life after the long winter, has been celebrated in acts of worship and thanksgiving across all religions and cultures, throughout human history.
Think of the Goddess Demeter, the earth mother of the Olympians, worshipped by the ancient Greeks. Her role was ‘bringer of seasons’ and according to the myth, she was so grief stricken after her daughter Persephone was kidnapped by Hades, the God of the Underworld, that she let everything in nature die around her. Eventually, Zeus intervened and told Hades he must return Demeter to the Earth before it was too late. It was agreed that from then on, Persephone would spend six months of the year in the Underworld, during which everything on earth would die (Autumn and Winter) and six months on the earth during which everything would spring back to life and flourish once again (Spring and Summer).
In Christianity, the Annunciation (the revelation that Mary would conceive a child to be born the Son of God - also known as Lady Day) is celebrated by some churches on March 25, around the Spring Equinox. The Spring Equinox also marks the New Year festival of Nowruz in the Persian (Iranian) calendar and is one of the Sabbat festivals of the Wiccan calendar.
Also in Christianity, the date of Easter is calculated as the first Sunday after the first full Moon on or after the Spring Equinox. It is said that the name "Easter" derives from the ancient fertility festival of the Eastre, the Teutonic goddess of fertility and sunrise, whose feast was celebrated at the Spring Equinox. But the word Easter is ultimately related to the word East and its root, Aus-, means literally, - "to shine" (especially of the dawn)**. While religiously, Easter celebrates the resurrection of the Son of God, symbolically, it is the renewal (the resurrection) of the Sun (the Son), a celebration of thanks for the sustenance to come, of the earthly kind (food, warmth etc) as well as the spiritual kind.
Ultimately, Spring is the time when we are most keenly reminded that everything in life and nature has a cycle. Most of us celebrate in our own way. Even if ‘our way’ is merely to eat an Easter egg or two, we are still absorbing the symbolic birth, renewal and fertility energies of the season, in anticipation of the abundance of Summer to come.
* In the Southern Hemisphere, the Equinoxes are reversed, the March Equinox marking the beginning of Autumn, the September Equinox marking the beginning of Spring.
** Source www.etymonline.com
© Mandi Lockley 2009