There are two equinoxes every year – in March and September. On the equinox, night and day are nearly exactly the same length – 12 hours – all over the world. This is the reason it’s called an “equinox”, derived from Latin, meaning “equal night”.
The March equinox marks the moment the Sun crosses the celestial equator – the imaginary line in the sky above the Earth’s equator – from south to north. This happens on March 19, 20 or 21 every year.
March Equinox in Universal Coordinated Time is on Sunday, 20 March 2016, 04:30 UTC.
March Equinox is on:
Saturday, 19 March 2016, 21:30 PDT (Las Vegas, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver)
Saturday, 19 March 2016, 22:30 MDT (Denver, Salt Lake City)
Saturday, 19 March 2016, 23:30 CDT (Chicago, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Houston, Dallas)
Sunday, 20 March 2016, 00:30 EDT (New York, Washington DC, Detroit, Montreal)
Sunday, 20 March 2016, 04:30 GMT (London, Belfast)
Sunday, 20 March 2016, 05:30 CET (Oslo, Stockholm, Vienna, Paris, Berlin, Budapest)
Sunday, 20 March 2016, 06:30 EET (in Helsinki, Bucharest, Athens, Istanbul, Cairo)
Sunday, 20 March 2016, 07:30 AST (Medina, Mecca)
Sunday, 20 March 2016, 07:30 MSK (Moscow)
Sunday, 20 March 2016, 08:00 IRST (Tehran)
Sunday, 20 March 2016, 08:30 GST (Dubai)
Sunday, 20 March 2016, 09:00 AFT (Kabul)
Sunday, 20 March 2016, 10:00 IST (New Delhi)
Sunday, 20 March 2016, 10:15 NPT (Kathmandu)
Sunday, 20 March 2016, 10:30 BST (Dhaka)
Sunday, 20 March 2016, 11:00 MMT (Mandalay)
Sunday, 20 March 2016, 11:30 ICT (Hanoi)
Sunday, 20 March 2016, 12:30 CST (Beijing, Nanning, Taipei)
Sunday, 20 March 2016, 13:30 JST (Tokyo)
(Source: timeanddate.com)
The March Equinox marks the beginning of the New Year.
The celebration of the New Year at 1st of January is the result of an administrative decision in order to separate the Christian holidays from all the pre-Christian (pagan) traditions and celebrations.
But while 1st of January it’s a meaningless, irrelevant moment, the March Equinox is the beginning of the natural and astronomical year.
The Babylonian calendar was started with the March Equinox. It was a lunisolar calendar with years consisting of 12 lunar months, each beginning when a new crescent moon. The first month was called Araḫ Nisānu which became Nisan in the Hebrew calenar and correspond to March/April in the Georgian calendar.
Spring represents the new beginning, the start of a new circle of life on Earth.
The Tarot card representing the March Equinox is the Ace of Wands.
While conventionally we are in the year 2016, Jews are in year 5776 (and from Autumn will enter year 5777) and according to the so-called Assyrian calendar, we are in year 6766.
The calendar we currently use, the Gregorian calendar, also called the Western calendar or the Christian calendar, is internationally the most widely used civil calendar. It is named for Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in October 1582. The last European country to adopt the Gregorian calendar was Greece, in 1923. The first year is considered to be the year of the birth of Jesus Christ.
The Hebrew (or Jewish calendar) is a lunisolar calendar based on the Babylonian calendar. The current Jewish year is 5776. It has began at sunset on 13 September 2015 and will end at sunset on 2 October 2016. They are calculate the years starting with the exile from Babylon.
The so-called Assyrian calendar is a lunar-based calendar that begins in the year 4750 BC, inspired by an estimate of the date of the first temple at Assur. As of 2016 AD, it is the Assyrian year 6766.
But if we accept the convenience and the year 2016 as reference, this is a year of 9 (2+0+1+6=9). Nine is the number of Mercury and the Tarot card which represent it is The Lovers.
