Welcoming the “Perfect Moment”: How People Around the World Celebrate the Spring Equinox

On Thursday, March 20th, from the hot equator to the cold polar regions, people all over the world experienced a moment of equal day and night – the spring equinox. Unlike the extreme differences in daylight between winter and summer solstices, the spring equinox brings a perfect balance and harmony, hence why people refer to it as the “most perfect moment.”

According to EarthSky, the exact time of the spring equinox in 2025 was at 9:01 UTC on March 20th. After enduring a harsh winter, people in the northern hemisphere finally welcomed the blooming flowers and lush greenery of spring, along with longer daylight hours.

However, for people in the southern hemisphere, like Chile, South Africa, and Australia, this marks the beginning of autumn, with temperatures gradually becoming cooler. In the coming months, the northern hemisphere will continue to receive more sunlight, leading to warmer temperatures until the summer solstice in June, with the longest daylight hours of the year.

For residents near the equator, such as in Quito, Ecuador, and Singapore, the equinox has minimal impact since the length of day and night remains almost the same throughout the year.

On the day of the spring equinox, the sun shines directly overhead on the equator, while both the North and South Poles are illuminated simultaneously, marking the only time in the year when both poles bask in sunlight at the same time.

As the Earth orbits the sun, its axis tilts at an angle of 23.5 degrees, causing variations in sunlight exposure and creating the changing seasons in the northern and southern hemispheres.

During the spring and autumn equinoxes, the Earth’s axis aligns with its orbit, providing nearly equal daylight hours to both hemispheres.

In the Western culture, the term “equinox” comes from the Latin word “equinoxium,” meaning “equal night.” Another name for the spring equinox is “vernal equinox,” with “vernal” referring to spring.

When the Earth’s axis tilts towards or away from the sun, it leads to extreme differences in daylight between the northern and southern hemispheres, known as solstices.

Between June 20th and 22nd, the northern hemisphere tilts closest to the sun, resulting in the longest daylight hours of the year (earliest sunrise, latest sunset) known as the summer solstice. Conversely, between December 20th and 23rd, the northern hemisphere tilts farthest from the sun, causing the shortest daylight hours of the year (latest sunrise, earliest sunset), known as the winter solstice.

Throughout history, people around the world have celebrated the spring equinox through various customs. For example, the Persian New Year (Nowruz) aligns with the spring equinox, and at the Mayan site of Chichen Itza in Mexico, during the equinox, sunlight creates a mysterious shadow resembling a snake on the El Castillo pyramid, attracting many visitors.

Stonehenge in the UK has long been a place of pilgrimage during the spring equinox and winter solstice, with English Heritage still organizing related activities.

In Japan, Vernal Equinox Day is a public holiday where traditionally people visit graves and reunite with family, maintaining ancient cultural practices.

In China, the spring equinox is not only an astronomical phenomenon but also one of the traditional twenty-four solar terms. In ancient agricultural societies, the spring equinox was significant, giving rise to various folk activities that still thrive in different regions today.

One of the most representative Chinese customs during the spring equinox is “standing eggs,” believed to bring good luck and prosperity when successfully accomplished, symbolizing the revival of all things in spring.

In addition to this, Chinese people celebrate the arrival of the spring equinox by eating spring vegetables, flying kites, and observing various other rituals. In ancient China, this day was also an important ceremonial occasion where people worshiped the sun god, praying for favorable weather and a bountiful harvest.

In this article, we mentioned the terms “solar terms” and “seasons,” which are two different ways of dividing time: meteorological seasons and astronomical seasons.

Astronomical seasons are based on the Earth’s orbit around the sun, aligning the beginning of spring, summer, autumn, and winter with the equinoxes and solstices. Meteorological seasons, on the other hand, are based on the climate and temperature cycles, dividing the year into four seasons, each lasting three months. Spring begins on March 1st, summer on June 1st, autumn on September 1st, and winter on December 1st.

The division of meteorological seasons is more suitable for weather forecasting and climate studies, whereas astronomical seasons follow the Earth’s orbital patterns.

(Reference: Report from “Science” magazine)