page_title: March equinox
section_title: Commemorations
hierarchical_section_title: March equinox / Culture / Commemorations
caption_attribution_description: العربية: نقشٌ بارز لِأسدٍ وثورٍ يتقاتلان في پرسپولیس - وهو رمزٌ تمَّ تفسيره بِعدَّة طُرق، فاعتُبر إحدى رُموز النيروز (رأس السنة الفارسيَّة) - وهو يوم الاعتدال الربيعي حيثُ أنَّ قُوَّة الثور (الذي يُمثِّل الأرض)، والأسد (الذي يُمثِّل الشمس)، تبقى مُتساوية إلى الأبد. English: Bas-relief the lion-bull combat in Persepolis - a symbol which has been variously interpreted, including as the symbol of the Nowruz (the Persian New Year's Day) - in day of a spring equinox power of eternally fighting bull (personifying the Earth), and a lion (personifying the Sun), are equal. Русский: Барельеф в Персеполе - cимвол зороастрийского Навруза - в день весеннего равноденствия силы извечно борющихся быка, олицетворяющего Землю, и льва, олицетворяющего Солнце, равны
context_page_description: The March equinox or Northward equinox is the equinox on the Earth when the subsolar point appears to leave the Southern Hemisphere and cross the celestial equator, heading northward as seen from Earth. The March equinox is known as the vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and as the autumnal equinox in the Southern.
  On the Gregorian calendar, the Northward equinox can occur as early as 19 March or as late as 21 March at Greenwich. For a common year the computed time slippage is about 5 hours 49 minutes later than the previous year, and for a leap year about 18 hours 11 minutes earlier than the previous year. Balancing the increases of the common years against the losses of the leap years keeps the calendar date of the March equinox from drifting more than one day from 20 March each year.
  The March equinox may be taken to mark the beginning of spring and the end of winter in the Northern Hemisphere but marks the beginning of autumn and the end of summer in the Southern Hemisphere.
  In astronomy, the March equinox is the zero point of sidereal time and, consequently, right ascension.
caption: Bas-relief in Persepolis—a symbol of Iranian/Persian Nowruz—on the day of an equinox, the power of an eternally fighting bull (personifying the Earth) and that of a lion (personifying the Sun) are equal.
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