21st March: Spring Equinox

Spring has sprung, officially! 10 Spring Equinox related celebrations:

1. Many celebrations linked to the Spring, Vernal or March equinox are new year celebrations as many calendars begin at this time, including the Persian and Iranian calendars, where the celebration is called Nowruz ("New Day"). It is a Zoroastrian holiday, and a holy day for adherents of the Bahá'í Faith, whose new year begins at sunset the previous day. The Rosicrucians also celebrate their new year, also known as Marduk's saint's day. The Indian National Calendar also starts a new year at around this time.
2. Today is the first day of the astrological year, as it is the first full day of the first zodiac sign, Aries. Hence International Astrology Day is celebrated on this day.
3. There are also a number of pagan celebrations, including: Festival of Trees, Alban Eilir, Ostara, and the Rites of Eostre (from which the word "Easter" is derived). They were mostly fertility rites celebrating the birth of Spring and the reawakening of life from the Earth. Lighting fires at sunrise, ringing bells, and decorating hard-boiled eggs were some of the ways the festival was celebrated The Spring Equinox was Christianised by the Church into the religious holiday of Easter. (No need to wait for Easter Sunday - eat your Easter Eggs today!)
4. In Scandinavia in olden times the Spring Equinox was a Dísablót or a sacrificial holiday when blood sacrifices were made to the female spirits, the disir and the Valkyries.
5. World Storytelling Day is celebrated worldwide on the Spring Equinox (the Autumn Equinox south of the equator). It is to celebrate the art of oral storytelling and the aim is to listen to as many stories as possible, ideally in several different languages.
6. Many Arab countries celebrate Mother's Day today.
7. In Japan, Vernal Equinox Day is a national holiday where families get together for reunions, and visiting the graves of their ancestors.
8. Proposal Day is celebrated on the vernal and autumnal equinoxes in the US. Single people are encouraged to propose marriage on this day, and to help them decide, a list of the ten most eligible singles in the world is released.
9. International Earth Day promotes responsibility to care for the planet. World Citizen Day is a similar idea, promoting worldwide responsibility.
10. In Annapolis, Maryland, boatyards and boat owners have a slightly bizarre tradition of burning their Socks. The idea behind this is that traditionally, the boating community only wear socks in the winter, and at the start of spring, they burn them. Then nobody wears socks again until the Autumn Equinox.