Equinox, Eggs in the balance

The egg being the most literal and obvious of all fertility symbols, ancient eggish customs survive not only in the form of egg rolling and Easter eggs, but also in the quaint superstitious belief, most often attributed to the Chinese, that you can stand a raw egg on end during the equinox. Apparently this derives from the notion that, due to the sun's equidistant position between the poles of the earth on the first day of spring, special gravitational forces apply.

From a skeptical point of view, the first objection that comes to mind is the fact that there's another equinox on the first day of autumn. Why is there no talk of balancing eggs on end in September? Secondly, while it's true that on both equinoxes the earth's axis is perpendicular to the sun, so day and night are of exactly equal length, there's no scientific reason to suppose that that alignment has any appreciable effect on gravitational forces here on earth. Thirdly, if the equinox can cause this curious anomaly, why aren't there others? Why don't we hear talk of being able to stand broomsticks, pencils, lollipops, or toothpicks on end?

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7:02AM EDST March 20 Spring

Spring is one of the four conventional temperate seasons, following winter and preceding summer. The specific definition of the exact timing of "spring" varies according to local climate, cultures and customs. At the spring equinox, days are close to 12 hours long with day length increasing as the season progresses. Spring and "springtime" refer to the season, and also to ideas of rebirth, rejuvenation, renewal, resurrection, and regrowth.

The Northward equinox (or March equinox) is the equinox on the earth when the Sun appears to cross the celestial equator, heading northward. The Northward equinox is the vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and the autumnal equinox in the Southern Hemisphere.
The equinox can be as early as March 19 or as late as March 21, the precise time being about 5 hours 49 minutes later in a common year, and about 18 hours 11 minutes earlier in a leap year, than in the previous year. It is the balance of common years and leap years that keeps the calendar date of the equinox from drifting more than a day from 20 March each year.
Read more from: wikipedia.org

equinox, Eggs in the balance

The egg being the most literal and obvious of all fertility symbols, ancient eggish customs survive not only in the form of egg rolling and Easter eggs, but also in the quaint superstitious belief, most often attributed to the Chinese, that you can stand a raw egg on end during the equinox. Apparently this derives from the notion that, due to the sun's equidistant position between the poles of the earth on the first day of spring, special gravitational forces apply.

From a skeptical point of view, the first objection that comes to mind is the fact that there's another equinox on the first day of autumn. Why is there no talk of balancing eggs on end in September? Secondly, while it's true that on both equinoxes the earth's axis is perpendicular to the sun, so day and night are of exactly equal length, there's no scientific reason to suppose that that alignment has any appreciable effect on gravitational forces here on earth. Thirdly, if the equinox can cause this curious anomaly, why aren't there others? Why don't we hear talk of being able to stand broomsticks, pencils, lollipops, or toothpicks on end?

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First day of spring

The first day of spring this year (2008) is March 20. The equinox will be at 5:48 GMT. That's 10:48 AM EDT if I figure correct. In general, the four seasons correspond to the relative position of the Sun to the earth. Meteorological determination of Spring is calculated when the Sun passes through the equatorial plane. When going from Winter to Spring, the Sun is moving North, and as soon as the Sun crosses the equator, we call it Spring.