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A little reason to celebrate

First Day of Spring

Seasonal · Nature · Date set each year

The first day of spring marks the vernal equinox, when day and night are close to equal length and the Northern Hemisphere tilts toward longer days.

First Day of Spring falls on Saturday, March 20, 2027. That is 144 days away.

Spring officially starts at the vernal equinox, the moment the sun crosses the celestial equator heading north. For people in the Northern Hemisphere, it marks the turn from winter toward longer, brighter days.

The word equinox comes from Latin for "equal night," and around this time day and night are close to the same length nearly everywhere on Earth. They are not perfectly equal, because the atmosphere bends sunlight and the sun is a disk rather than a point, so most places get a few extra minutes of daylight. From here until summer, the evenings keep stretching.

Outside, the change rarely arrives on schedule. Some places have crocuses pushing up through mud, and others still have snow banked along the driveway. Birds tend to notice before people do. Robins get louder in the early morning, and buds on maples and forsythia start to swell.

People mark the day in quiet, practical ways. Some open the windows for the first real airing of the house. Others plant seeds indoors, rake out flower beds, or take a long walk after dinner just because it is still light. Farmers and gardeners have long watched this point in the year as a signal to start thinking about planting.

The same day is the start of autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, so somewhere someone is pulling out a sweater while you put yours away.

Ways to celebrate

• Take a walk after dinner and notice how late the light lasts.
• Start a few seeds indoors in egg cartons or small pots.
• Look for the first buds, shoots or blossoms in your neighborhood.
• Open the windows and give the house a fresh airing.
• Listen for birdsong in the early morning.

Dates

All national days on March 20

Also on March 20

• National Ravioli Day
• National Corndog Day
• National Bock Beer Day
• National Quilting Day
• Won't You Be My Neighbor Day
• Alien Abduction Day
• National Proposal Day
• Snowman Burning Day

Categories: Seasonal daysNature days