Spring equinox rituals tend to share three ideas: balance, because day and night are close to equal; clearing out, because winter is over; and planting, literally or otherwise. A simple way to mark it at home is to clean one room thoroughly, plant a few seeds, and write down what you'd like to grow over the coming months. Around the world, the same moment is celebrated with new-year tables, family visits to graves, fire-jumping and picnics.
Equal day and night, almost
The March equinox is the moment the Sun crosses the celestial equator heading north. In the Northern Hemisphere, it marks the start of astronomical spring, falling on or around 20 March (the date shifts between the 19th and the 21st depending on the year and your time zone). In the Southern Hemisphere, the same moment begins autumn, and the spring equinox arrives in September instead.
"Equinox" comes from the Latin for "equal night," and the name is close to true. On the equinox itself, though, daylight is usually a few minutes longer than night. The Sun counts as risen as soon as its top edge clears the horizon, and the atmosphere bends its light so we see it slightly before it's geometrically up. The day when light and dark are truly equal falls a few days before the March equinox.
Meteorologists, by the way, count spring from 1 March, for tidier record-keeping. Both definitions are correct; they're just measuring different things.
Nowruz, Higan and other spring traditions
Nowruz
Nowruz, meaning "new day," is the Persian New Year, celebrated at or around the March equinox by many millions of people in Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia, the Caucasus, Kurdish communities and diasporas worldwide. UNESCO lists it as part of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity. Families clean the house from top to bottom beforehand, a custom called khaneh tekani, or "shaking the house." They set a haft-sin table with seven items whose Persian names begin with the letter sin, including sprouted wheat or lentils (sabzeh), apples (sib), garlic (sir) and vinegar (serkeh). On the eve of the last Wednesday of the year, people jump over small bonfires. On the thirteenth day of the new year, families picnic outdoors and often release the sprouted greens into running water.
Higan
In Japan, the week around each equinox is Higan, a Buddhist observance. Families visit and clean ancestral graves, make offerings, and eat botamochi, sweet rice balls covered in red bean paste, in spring. The equinox day itself is a national holiday.
Chichén Itzá
At the great pyramid of El Castillo in Mexico, late-afternoon light around the equinoxes casts a pattern of triangles down the edge of the north staircase, looking like the body of a serpent sliding toward the carved serpent head at its base. Whether the ancient Maya builders designed it deliberately is debated, but the spectacle draws huge crowds.
Easter
In Western Christianity, the date of Easter is tied to the season: it falls on the first Sunday after the church's calculated full moon on or after 21 March, which is the fixed date the church uses for the equinox.
Ostara and the modern Wheel of the Year
Many modern pagans celebrate the spring equinox as Ostara, one of eight festivals on the Wheel of the Year. The name comes from a single early source: the eighth-century English monk Bede, who wrote that the Anglo-Saxon month around April was named after a goddess called Eostre, and that this is where the English word Easter comes from. Very little else is known about her, and in the nineteenth century Jacob Grimm proposed a German counterpart he called Ostara.
The equinox festival known as Ostara today took shape in twentieth-century paganism. That doesn't make it any less meaningful to those who keep it, but it's honest to say it's a modern festival with an old name, rather than an unbroken ancient one.
Five equinox rituals for home
Clean one room completely
Borrow the spirit of khaneh tekani without trying to do the whole house. Choose one room, open the windows, and clear it properly: dust the tops of things, wash the curtains, donate what you no longer use. It's practical and surprisingly satisfying.
Plant something
Sow a few seeds in a pot on the windowsill: herbs, cress, a sunflower. As you press each one into the soil, name something you'd like to grow this spring. Our guide on how to set intentions can help you phrase it. Tend the pot daily; watching it sprout is the ritual.
Make a balance list
Draw a line down the middle of a page. On one side, write what has taken too much of your time and attention through winter. On the other, what has been neglected. Choose one item from each column to adjust over the next month.
Take an equinox walk
Go out at sunrise or sunset and notice what's changing: buds on the trees, birdsong, the light lasting a little longer. Bring back one sign of spring for your windowsill or altar.
Set a shared table
Invite friends or family for a spring meal. Decorate with eggs, sprouted greens, early flowers and something sweet. If you have family traditions from Nowruz, Easter or another spring festival, this is a natural time to share them.
The Empress, the tarot card most associated with abundance and growing things, shows a figure seated in a ripening field; the Empress card's meaning makes it a natural image for a spring table.
The equinox in astrology
In Western tropical astrology, the March equinox marks the Sun's entry into Aries, the first sign of the zodiac. This isn't a coincidence: the tropical zodiac is measured from this exact point, which is why the astrological year begins with the start of northern spring. Aries is associated with initiative, courage and beginnings, the qualities of a season when everything is starting at once. Read more about Aries traits.
Many people also time a fresh-start ritual for the first new moon after the equinox, combining the solar and lunar beginnings.
Questions readers ask
Can you balance an egg on the spring equinox?
You can, but you can do it on any other day of the year too. The equinox doesn't change gravity or anything about eggs. It's a fun tradition that comes down to patience and a slightly rough-shelled egg.
When is the spring equinox in the Southern Hemisphere?
In September, on or around 22 or 23 September. The March equinox, which begins spring in the north, marks the start of autumn in the south.
Is Ostara an ancient festival?
The name has an old source, the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre mentioned by Bede, but the equinox festival called Ostara in modern paganism took shape in the twentieth century. Many other spring festivals, such as Nowruz, have much longer continuous histories.
What's the difference between the equinox and the first day of spring?
Astronomers count spring from the equinox, around 20 March in the north. Meteorologists count it from 1 March, so that seasonal records line up with whole months. Both are valid; they serve different purposes. After spring comes the long arc to the winter solstice, the other great turning point of the year.
