Spring equinox – Earth gratitude and the Early Bumblebee

The spring (vernal) equinox in the Northern Hemisphere marks a time of transition and new beginnings.

The March spring equinox this year in France occurred on 20 March 2021. The length of the day and the night are nearly equal. It is the moment that the Sun crosses the celestial equator – the imaginary line in the sky above the Earth’s equator – from south to north (and vice versa in September for the fall equinox).

It is traditionally the first day of spring, a seasonal turning point. It is most commonly related to the Easter tradition of eggs and the birth of young animals, especially chicks, lambs, and rabbits. It is also time for planting seeds for summer food crops.

Often people celebrate symbolically by showing gratitude to the Earth through Earth Day, or lighting a candle, or throwing open windows, or spring cleaning, or hugging a tree, or connecting with nature in some way.

Personally, I hunt for the Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum) in the Northern Hemisphere, or other such creature when I am in the Southern Hemisphere. The Early Bumblebee flies early in the spring season, from March to July, before other bee species. Then, when I see it, I know that spring is here.

While on my hunt for the Early Bumblebee in the Luxembourg Garden – Jardin du Luxembourg – in Paris, another person was giving thanks to the Earth during the spring equinox by leaving nourishment – fruits of the Earth.

MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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