Many people have their own set of clues that announce, to them, the imminent arrival of spring. Those impatient for the year to awaken seize on snowdrops as an early sign. For others, it’s the golden glow of daffodils, or the sound of skylarks and song thrushes serenading potential partners.
According to the astronomical calendar, however, spring doesn’t start in the Northern Hemisphere until the vernal equinox in the third week of March. On this date, which falls between 19 and 21 March, the sun is directly above the equator, and day and night are exactly the same length.
This occurrence, which ushers in a period of increased light and fecundity, was celebrated by ancient cultures – including Celts, Picts and other pagan groups – for millennia.
Important customs in the calendars of major religions, including Christianity and Judaism, are directly connected to this event too. For example, Easter Sunday is observed on the weekend following the first full moon after the spring equinox.
Druids, Wiccans and New Agers continue to gather at significant sites such as Stonehenge on the equinox itself. Ancient folkloric characters, such as the Green Man (a face or figure made from foliage, seen all over the world) and Ostara (a Germanic goddess of spring, also known as Ēostre) are celebrated.
Even in relatively mainstream circles, the period around the spring equinox is traditionally seen by many as a time of fertility and renewal. It’s a time when people feel prompted to let go of baggage and reconnect with the natural world.
What is the spring equinox?
The word ‘equinox’ is derived from a Latin expression meaning ‘equal night’, and it describes the two days that occur each year, when the night and the day are exactly the same length.
The March equinox happens when the orbit and angle of the Earth cause the subsolar point (when the sun appears to be directly overhead) to cross the equator from the southern to the northern hemisphere.
In the northern hemisphere, the March equinox is known as the spring – or vernal – equinox, and it ushers in a period where the top half of the globe receives incrementally more sunlight each day, culminating with the summer solstice in June (the longest day).
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After the solstice, the hours of daylight start declining again until we reach that point on our annual planetary lap of our local star where the subsolar point crosses back over the equator. This happens between 21 and 23 September (the autumn equinox for us here in the northern hemisphere).
For those Down Under, in the global south, the March event is the autumn equinox and the one in September is the spring equinox. During both equinoxes, the hours of darkness and light are split equally (12 hours of each) right across the world – which is what life is like all the time for those who live right on the equator.
When is the spring equinox?
Astronomically, the spring equinox can occur between 19 and 21 March. The spring equinox of 2025, for example, technically begins on Thursday 20 March at exactly 09:01 and 25 seconds (Greenwich meantime). That is the precise moment when the sun is exactly above the equator.
The timing of this occurrence varies because we use the Gregorian calendar, which divides the year into 365 days, but it takes the Earth exactly 365 days, 5 hours and 48 minutes to complete one lap of the sun (hence we need leap years, and time and dates bobble around a bit).
To keep things simple – and because some big things, such as the timing of Easter, are dependent on it – the ‘ecclesiastical equinox’ (the date used by the Christian Church) is 21 March.
Why is the March equinox special?
Around this time, right across Britain and elsewhere in the northern hemisphere, trees burst into blossom. Flowers begin to bloom (daffodils, crocuses, orchids), birdsong fills this air and animals – from hares and rabbits in woodlands, to sheep in the fields, birds in the trees and frogs and toads in lakes – produce young.
Celestially, it ushers in the start of spring, and has been celebrated for millennia as a time of fertility and renewal, and sometimes creativity.
For many people, this moment is when the new year really begins, because it feels as though the natural world is awakening. It’s no coincidence that people get the urge to do a ‘spring clean’ and start afresh around the time of the March equinox.
It’s worth noting that climate scientists use a different system to divide the year into four three-month seasons: the meteorological calendar. This has spring starting on 1 March.
Who celebrates the spring equinox?
Without the digital distractions and light pollution that we have surrounded ourselves with, ancient civilisations were highly tuned in to the elements and celestial events, and well aware of revolving seasons.
Together with the summer and winter solstices, the spring and autumn equinoxes formed the foundation stones of the calendar for various cultures, including the Celts, Picts and other pagan people.
The midpoint between each equinox and solstice was also marked by a festival: Samhain is at the start of November, Imbolc the beginning of February, Beltane in early May and Lughnasadh in August. These events make up the eight festivals of the Wheel of the Year, a cycle of celebrations still observed by many modern pagans, such as Wiccans.
The festival associated with the spring equinox is called Ostara, which stems from an Anglo-Saxon/Germanic goddess called Ēostre, who symbolises spring and new beginnings.
What traditions are associated with spring equinox?
While many people celebrate the spring equinox almost subconsciously, some do away with clutter in their home and reconnect with nature. They spend more time outside during increasing longer and brighter days.
Some cultures and subcultures mark Ostara with very specific rituals. Pagan groups will gather at significant sites such as Stonehenge on the day of the spring equinox. Wiccan traditions include the celebration of nature-based deities such as Mother Earth and the Green Man.
Since the equinox is a global event, it’s no surprise that it’s observed by many different and entirely unconnected cultures around the world.
In the Iranian solar calendar it is literally the start of the Persian New Year, Navroz Mobarak, which involves painting eggs and exchanging sweet treats. It sparks a 13-day period of festivities called Nowruz, celebrated by 300 million people. The Japanese too, celebrate the vernal equinox with a national holiday.
Is the spring equinox associated with other festivities or customs?
Ēostre has a totemic connection to hares (and, by association, rabbits). Her legend has also become tangled up with the tradition of giving eggs and sweet things as gifts at the outset of springtime (before the beginning of Lent), which was popular in medieval Europe.
All of this helps – perhaps – to explain why we’ve ended up delighting and confusing our children with very unscientific stories about chocolate egg-producing bunnies around Easter time.
The veracity of the historic link between these concepts is questioned by some folklore experts, but there is an undeniable connection between the spring equinox and Easter, because the date of Easter Sunday is each year determined by the first full moon after the March equinox.
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Main image credit: Getty Images
