Happy Equinox.
The Return of Persephone (1891), by Frederic Leighton (1830–1896). Leighton depicts Hermes helping Persephone to return to her mother Demeter after Zeus forced Hades to return Persephone.
Finally, Spring!, 2010
Happy Spring , 2009
Persephone Rises, 2008
Happy Vernal Equinox, 2007
Wikipedia: Equinox
View from South Cove, Battery Park City
The March equinox (vernal in the northern hemisphere, autumnal in the southern hemisphere) occurred this morning at 1:32 PM Eastern Time (UTC-04:00, since it’s now Eastern Daylight Time). Yesterday, I walked along the Esplanade of Battery Park City on the Hudson River. With a week of warm weather, and highs 20F degrees above normal for this time of year, the pace of bloom has been accelerated and compressed. I found:
While the Daffodil was surprising, the others are all early bloomers. I’m just not used to seeing them all blooming at the same time.
The Return of Persephone (1891), by Frederic Leighton (1830–1896). Leighton depicts Hermes helping Persephone to return to her mother Demeter after Zeus forced Hades to return Persephone.
I like the story of Demeter and Persephone. Winter doesn’t occur because Hades is evil/dark/etc. Persephone was not the keeper of the earth. The earth didn’t miss her, Demeter did. Demeter grieved for her loss, and neglected her gardening duties, and that’s why Winter occurs. Demeter rejoices at the return of Persephone, which restores her interest in the world, and that’s when we get Spring.
Illumination of the Earth by the Sun on the day of an equinox
Happy Spring , 2009
Persephone Rises, 2008
Happy Vernal Equinox, 2007
Wikipedia:Equinox
Despite this morning’s snow flurries, the March equinox (vernal in the northern hemisphere, autumnal in the southern hemisphere) occurred this morning at 7:44 AM Eastern Time (UTC-04:00, since it’s now Eastern Daylight Time). By convention, this marks the “official” start of Spring, though we’ve been tracking signs of Spring closely for a few weeks now.
The Return of Persephone (1891), by Frederic Leighton (1830–1896). Leighton depicts Hermes helping Persephone to return to her mother Demeter after Zeus forced Hades to return Persephone.
For the third year, I’m using the image above to illustrate this post. I like the story of Demeter and Persephone. Winter doesn’t occur because Hades is evil/dark/etc. Persephone was not the keeper of the earth. The earth didn’t miss her, Demeter did. Demeter grieved for her loss, and neglected her gardening duties, and that’s why Winter occurs. Demeter rejoices at the return of Persephone, which restores her interest in the world, and that’s when we get Spring.
Illumination of the Earth by the Sun on the day of an equinox
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Persephone Rises, 2008
Happy Vernal Equinox, 2007
Wikipedia:Equinox
The Return of Persephone (1891), by Frederic Leighton (1830–1896)
The vernal equinox of 2008 occurs at 05:48 UTC on March 20, or 01:48/1:48am my time, after midnight tonight. And a blogging neighbor wishes everyone a Happy New Year 1387.
I used the same image above for last year’s Vernal Equinox post. Not that I want to just phone it in. I think the painting is gorgeous. And I like the story of Demeter and Persephone. In comments on last year’s post, Blackswamp Girl (Kim of A Study in Contrasts) expressed discomfort with the story. I responded:
The way I keep the story in my mind, Winter doesn’t occur because Hades is evil/dark/etc. Persephone was not the keeper of the earth. The earth didn’t miss her, Demeter did. Demeter grieved for her loss, and neglected her gardening duties, and that’s why Winter occurs. Demeter rejoices at the return of Persephone, which restores her interest in the world, and that’s when we get Spring.
Happy Vernal Equinox, 2007
Wikipedia:Equinox
The Return of Persephone (1891), by Frederic Leighton (1830–1896)
The vernal equinox of 2007 occurs at 00:07 UTC on March 21, or 20:07/8:07pm my time this evening.
“Vernal” instead of “Spring” because:
Vernal equinox and autumnal equinox. These names are direct derivatives of Latin (ver = spring, autumnus = autumn), and as such more apt to be found in writings. Although in principle they are subject to the same problem as the spring/autumn names, their use over the centuries has fixed them to the viewpoint of the northern hemisphere. As such the vernal equinox is the equinox where the Sun passes from south to north [across the equator], and is a zeropoint in some celestial coordinate systems. The name of the other equinox is used less often.
– Wikipedia:Equinox:Names
