First Day of Spring 2013: Vernal Equinox

Take a dozen eggs and place them in an egg carton with the pointed end straight up. Let them set for about a week. Almost 100% will stand on the large end -- the reason: The yolk will settle to the lowest part of the egg. If the egg is left in the carton with just a slight tilt, the egg will not stand. This will work at any time of year and has nothing to do with the position of the sun. In addition, the vernal equinox occurs when the sun crosses the equator -- a long way south of us in North America.

The calendar has spring in tiny little words and if ya look it up theres nothing but loads of information eqinoxes and groundhoggs. No sense in trying to get a date of when springs supposed to be in session.

Seasons. (This applies to the Northern Hemisphere) Surely it's self-evident common sense that winter is the DARKEST quarter of the year, and summer is the LIGHTEST quarter of the year. This has nothing to do with weather. So winter last from early November to early February and summer starts in early May and ends in early August. These are roughly equivalent to the Celtic festivals of Samhain, Imbolc, Beltaine and Lughnasadh.

I have pictures of eggs standing on end at the vernal equinox. We stood 7 of them. I'm at 49:40N, approx. I'll look for the pics and post one. It worked for my sons and me in 1977 or 78.

As to the folklore about eggs standing on end on the equinox, it is completely not true. Just a silly hold-back from days when a large proportion of people believed in astrology. Do a Google search for "bad astronomy egg" and the first link will take you to Phil Plait's website where he tells you how you can stand an egg on end on any day of the year.

From western Nebraska and, for me, hearing and seeing the Western Meadowlark, the Kildeer and seeing ground squirrels let me know that Spring is here to stay :o) I don't go by the Robins since we have had some stay through the winter at times.

In Indiana, we have had a very mild winter and an early spring. Out temperatures are at least 20 degrees above normal. This posing a huge dilemna. Do we plant in regards to current weather trends or go by the old farming rules of not planting before the first of May?.

I'm from NJ & the only snow we had was in Oct. except for a dusting or two.Our roses & butterfly bushes started budding early in Feb. I really did not miss Old Man Winter! :-)

SPRING?????
Here in Southern California it seems as if Winter has just started. 60 degrees yesterday and they say we will have the same for the next two weeks.

Here in Virginia the egg and the broom both are standing up.

We had 3 snows this year (not a lot of it either) All the tulips and iris have popped up early. Will probably have more thunderstorm than usual. Love the spring and fall of the year.

As Spring starts 20 March at 1:14 AM EDT on the East coast does that mean it officially starts at 11:14 PM in Colorado on the 19th of March?

There is also an old saying that washing your face in the morning dew the first day of Spring brings beauty:)

I didn't see much of a winter here... I'm worried that summer is going to be awful. Is there any correlation ? And just to throw this out there, my stepson came home a few weeks ago and made the broom stand up on its own... Apparently this can be done anytime of the year.

Hi
I live in SE England and we too have had a very mild Winter - what worries me the most about these are all the nasty bugs which should not be here and which should die over the Winter.

Ref. the eggs scenario - should this not only happen 3 days either side of the Vernal Equinox, which is today. It was the 21st, but apparently will be the 20th for the next hundred or so years.

Finally, we are holidaying in Gatlinburg, TN for the first 2 weeks of May, any Tennesseeans out there who can tell me what the weather will be like?

PS found the threads interesting.

If Spring begins on March 20 at 1:14 AM EST, does that mean it begins in MST at 11:14 pm March 19? When exactly does Spring begin in Colorado?

Eggs upright! - all across America! I put all 12 up, 3 of them standing on my cutting board, the others on the electric burner os my stove inspired by the almanac pic. 2 friends sent pics of theirs on flat shiny surfaces, another friend on her stove, my mom's in the corner of the tile, another on the tile floor. I also held it straight up & down in my hand. I could really feel it's energy pulling it into perfect balance. Don't give up! I couldn't quit once I got started. Where do I post all the pictures?

To address the misconception, you can stand an egg on its head any time of the year. The seasons have absolutely nothing to do with it at all. It just depends on how flat your surface is how nicely shaped the egg is.

Our broom stands up in our broom closet until someone pulls it out and uses it. On the other hand, what came first, the spring equinox or the egg?

i stood an egg up and it stayed for a lil while then fell over. the broom works great tho. the eggs should balance as so when the equinox comes closer as the force would be stronger. so if you havent had any luck just be a lil patient.

I have never in my life been able to balance anything and as the above post states... The broom and the egg are still standing beside me as I st here at the bar. I am in the Panhandle of Florida and its not March 20th however the objects still stand. I will continue to try this and see what happens! FIRM BELIEVER!!!

That is awesome! my son is trying to get our broom to stand on end now, lol. We are testing it here in s.e. oklahoma. Will let you know the outcome later today.

My 12 yr old daughter and I tried the broom and egg "trick" earlier tonight after all the buzz posted on FB. Well...it worked!! And they are BOTH still standing in my litchen as I type! I've tried this before today and it never worked. I'm a believer!! :-)

I live on hour north of KC Missouri. My fiance saw all the posts about the broom and egg so he tried it...and our broom and egg have been standing on end for the past hour...also my broom is a slanted one to sweep out corners..so there is no way it could ever do this on it's own..it's top heavy...creepy...I have friends in NY state that tried it but no luck..too bad its really neat to see. :)

My friend asked me what all the pictures in Facebook were about standing brooms, and I said I don't know. We tried the broom outside, and it worked. We tried the eggs inside and the broom inside and it worked. Anyone feeling the magic?

My friends broom is standing in her bathroom. And has been for hours but my broom wont and niether did the eggs that I tried to stand on end. Hmm wierd

does not need to be a new perfect broom. I've done it with my decade old beaten up broom.