Spring Equinox, spring cleaning, and a green apron

Spring Equinox is nearly upon us. Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere occurs on Monday 20 March 2023 at 17:24 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) in North America.

Spring Equinox is also called the March Equinox or the Vernal Equinox (or the Autumn Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere). Equinox means ‘equal night’ – when the duration of the night equals the duration of the day (in hours and minutes) across most of the planet.

It occurs when the Sun crosses the celestial equator (the imaginary line in the sky above Earth’s equator) going south to north.

The equinox occurs twice a year, so the next equinox in the Northern Hemisphere is the Autumn Equinox on Saturday 23 Septermber (the Spring Equinox in the Southern Hemishere).

From 20 March in the Northern Hemisphere, the duration of daylight will increase until the Summer Solstice in June, marking the longest period of daylight. The Winter Solstice in December marks the longest night. In the Southern Hemisphere, this is reversed – Winter Solstice is in June and Summer Solstice is in December.

Spring Equinox brings spring fever – a restlessness to get outside and enjoy the sunshine and emerging flowers, but also for many it brings pollen-induced sneezing.

Spring Equinox also brings spring cleaning – to clean the cupboards, cobwebs and dust; declutter accumulated stuff; bring sunlight and fresh air into the house; and enjoy the spring colours and florals. It’s an opportunity to let go of the unwanted, and refresh with newly washed, or recycled, or newly-bought stuff.

It is time to start something new.

MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international human rights-based consultant in education, healing and wellbeing, peace and stabilization, foreign aid audits and evaluations, 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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