Spring, Sprang, Sprung: Vernal Equinox

Light & Dark. Black & White. Yin & Yang. Ben & Jerry. Today, the world is in perfect balance with the sun spending an equal amount of time on each side of the world.

Astrologically, today is the first day of Spring, though most years you wouldn’t know it. But it happened that Mother Nature was feeling obliging and it was rather warm this particular afternoon.

Vernal Equinox tends to be thought of as one of those mysterious Druid holidays involving wild, naked dancing closely followed by the practice of porn level fertility rites, but in fact it is a much more staid, much older and more widely recognized celebration date.

Before Druids ever existed in the world, the Irish were celebrating the equinox. As did the Saxons, the Mayans, the Romans, the Native Americans, the Persians, the Japanese and just about any other culture that had someone who had the wits to claim that they were too busy deciphering the stars to go out and hunt or work in the fields. So important was this date, that many cultures considered it to be a New Year celebration.

Even before modern science, cultures were fascinated by the perfect balance that occurred on this date. And truly it is a day to celebrate. The days will getting longer and my garden will be growing soon. The vernal equinox is the natural equivalent to Christmas to a dedicated gardener like myself.