As the calendar flips to March 19th this year, the curtain rises on an enchanting act of nature: the vernal equinox, heralding the season of spring. This celestial ballet, where daylight and darkness hold each other in a delicate balance, ushers in a period of rejuvenation that stretches until the cusp of summer on June 22. Spring’s grand entrance is a movable feast, its timing a dance dictated by the Earth’s axial tilt and its elliptical waltz around the Sun, weaving through a tapestry of days and seasons that defy uniformity.
In the Northern Hemisphere, spring whispers its arrival when the Sun, in its celestial journey, crosses the equator and leans into the embrace of the Sun, coaxing daylight to linger and temperatures to warm, crafting days and nights of equal length. Winter’s departure sees the Earth gracefully pivoting away from the Sun’s chilly grasp.
Spring is a season that paints the world with a palette of vivid hues and fragrances, where the air is laced with the sweet murmur of awakening leaves, and every day is a canvas of bright, life-affirming colors. It’s a time when nature, in its boundless creativity, adorns itself with blossoms and welcomes back the symphony of animals from their winter retreats—each element a testament to the season’s vibrant dynamism, occasionally punctuated by the drama of storms and the whirl of tornadoes.
Defined by the dance of celestial bodies, spring stretches from the equinox to the summer solstice, a period governed by the balance of day and night and the Sun’s path across the sky. The term “equinox” itself whispers of balance, with its roots in the Latin for ‘equal night’, while “solstice” speaks of a standstill, derived from words meaning ‘Sun’ and ‘to stand’. During this season, the Earth’s posture toward the Sun is one of neutrality, neither leaning in nor away.
In the tapestry of the Northern Hemisphere, the vernal equinox is the herald of spring, a time when the Sun’s path crosses north over the equator, a nod to the Latin ‘vernalis’, meaning spring. Meanwhile, the Southern Hemisphere begins to don the cooler shades of autumn. Spring in the south unfolds under the September skies, marking its own cycle of renewal and growth. On this day of equilibrium, the Sun’s journey from east to west is a visual symphony of the Earth’s ceaseless motion.
Spring is celebrated as the harbinger of new beginnings, a season that unfurls the promise of renewal, growth, and endless possibilities. It’s a time that captures the heart with its promise of transformation, inviting us to embrace the unfolding tapestry of life with wonder and anticipation.
Spring has sprung, the grass has riz,
I wonder where the birdies is.
Some say the birds is on the wing,
but that’s absurd, the wing is on the bird.
That’s how I learned this little ditty. A quick internet search shows that some wonder where the flowers is and other variations.
