Every year, in the 3rd week of March, spring officially begins in the northern hemisphere. This date is known as the vernal equinox. This year it occurs March 19th at 10:30 PM Mountain time. Vernal equinox marks the moment that our Sun crosses the celestial equator – the imaginary line in the sky above Mother Earth’s equator. Vernal (or vernus) is actually the Latin word for spring. The term equinox is used to acknowledge that the length of day and night are equal or in balance at this time of year.

Traditionally, vernal or spring equinox is a time to celebrate new life, rebirth and new beginnings. Quite appropriate, given that spring is the time of year when Mama Earth “wakes up” and offers shoots and buds of new growth everywhere. Spring is also the ideal time to sow seeds that will sprout and grow as our days lengthen and the soil of Mama Earth warms up.

Our ancestors built many monuments honoring the return of spring. The Great Sphinx, an ancient Egyptian symbol of resurrection and rebirth, is precisely aligned with the sky so that the Sphinx stares directly at the rising sun on spring equinox. Angkor Wat in Cambodia is positioned so that the sun rises up the side of the central tower of the temple and crowns its pinnacle on spring equinox. And at the Mayan temple of Chichen Itza, a magical sun serpent appears and slithers up the pyramid stairs each year on spring equinox.

Here at Sacred Earth Institute we like to be a bit more informal and simply shout with joy that spring is coming!