Equinox, is a cyclic event and marks an exact moment when the Sun passes through the plane of Earth’s equator, and the earth’s axis is positioned such that it’s neither tilting toward nor away from the Sun, rendering the alignments to result in almost equal lengths of day and night times for the entire planet.
Equinoxes occur twice an year in March and September and today March 20th 2026 is the vernal equinox (spring equinox) in the Northern hemisphere. After the spring equinox, the Sun’s path in the sky moves northward, until the June solstice, when it travels south again, going through the equinox in September (fall equinox) until it reaches its southern most point in December (winter solstice) and reverses back northward again. In the southern hemisphere, March and September equinoxes are the fall and spring equinoxes respectively
Looking up at the sky, observing and tracking the positions of the Sun, Moon and stars has been a human pursuit since time immemorial, from ancient human civilizations to current times. These celestial events are accompanied by changes in temperatures, and weather patterns that are also cyclical, and humans have made this connection between the Sun’s path in the sky and the cyclical weather patterns through the year.
It’s mind-boggling that ancient societies and groups of humans all over the globe, locally isolated from each other to large extent, have had an interest in the Sun, Moon and the Stars, and have developed calendars and methods to document and predict the times of these cyclical celestial events. This points to the underlying curiosity and pursuit of knowledge, that’s common at its core to the human race, uniting us through time and space.
In the northern hemisphere, spring equinox is also a sign of advent of warmer weather, longer daylight and in many cultures was perceived as a symbol of rejuvenation and growth. All over the globe, there are examples from ancient monuments to grand architectures that early human societies have built from the knowledge they’ve acquired from observing and tracking the movements of the Sun, Moon and the Stars.
These include but not limited to megalithic stone structures (Stonehenge in England, Grianan of Aileach in Ireland, Megaliths of Chano in Jharkhand, India, Mnajdra Megalithic Temple complex, in the Mediterranean island of Malta) to the brilliantly and preciously architectured complexes like Angor Wat in Cambodia, the Mayan El Castillo Temple in Chichen Itza, Mexico, the Sphinx and the pyramids of Giza, the Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, USA, Padmanabaswamy temple tower in Kerala India and the Sun temple at Modhera, Gujarat India).
On the equinoxes, the sun rises exactly in east and sets exactly in west. All these monuments and structures have been engineered & built with a high precision to align with the cardinal directions of the east-west line and the true north, such that the Sun’s rays at sunrise or sunset illuminate specific areas of these structures on the equinoxes. This is an admirable feat exemplifying the breadth and depth of knowledge in astronomy, mathematics and engineering that was used to architecture these grand elaborate monuments, that have stood the test of time, giving us a glimpse of the knowledge base of these ancient societies.
With the technology and tools at our disposal today to measure lengths and times with precision and computers that aid in model designs and architectures, we are still at a loss to explain how these ancient societies with the tools they had were able to achieve this unprecedented level of precision. To many of these ancient societies, observing and tracking cyclical astronomical patterns were critical for their survival, for instance, they had to align the farming steps with the rain and temperature windows to ensure growth and harvest before winter in the northern latitudes and the dry season in the low-mid latitudes.
Equinoxes are not only an advent of seasonal changes, they also impact communication systems in our today’s world. A few days preceding and after an equinox, the Sun is directly behind Geo-stationary satellites, shining through their path to the surface of Earth. This intense direct radiation from the Sun causes outages in the circuitry of the satellite electronics causing temporary disruption and outages in that time window. Its another indication that no matter the time in human history, Sun has and will be a major factor in our existence impacting not only our survival, but also features in the way we develop technology.
I’ve been watching the Sun’s annual trajectory from my vantage point in the Wasatch mountains for the last few years and been tracking the sunsets at the equinoxes and solstices with specific reference points.(image below)
Every year, waiting for that one moment with anticipation and capturing it on a camera has been a rewarding experience, and often I think about the small blip in time of my own existence, compared to the vast time that has elapsed when humans were observing the very same phenomena at the same location connecting us in some way across time. At the core of it, is the curiosity and quest for knowledge that has been and hopefully will bind us as one human race as time moves on.
Equinox, translated from its Latin meaning to ‘equal night’, signifies a state of balance and a sense of “centering”, even if momentarily, that we can all benefit from as we navigate the roller-coaster that life is.
Happy Spring Equinox !!
Beautiful
Thank-you GB !!
Beautifully written. Loved learning about the megaliths and their connection to the equinox. Keep writing and sharing. Thank you.
Thank you Bhawani ! I enjoyed the background research while writing, was a learning experience.