• Question: Why does spring start on the 20th of March not the 1st?

    Asked by to Clare, Divya, Ian, Jess, Lewis on 17 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Lewis Dean

      Lewis Dean answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      There are many different dates when spring is said to start and most of them are just an old tradition. The date of 20th March, however, is to do with the position of the Earth. Around that time the is the Spring Equinox. That is when the tilt of the Earth means that the sun starts to return to the northern hemisphere and we start to get more of the sun’s heat.

    • Photo: Ian Hands-Portman

      Ian Hands-Portman answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      It is just a human convention – spring starts when the flowers come out and the birds start to sing 🙂

    • Photo: Clare Nevin

      Clare Nevin answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      Yup, what they said!

    • Photo: Divya Venkatesh

      Divya Venkatesh answered on 18 Mar 2014:

      I agree. My memories of spring starting are with the festival of Holi – I don’t know if you’ve heard of it, but basically people – friends, strangers, neighbours get together and throw colours at each other. It’s pretty fun. Also it comes on a different date each year- because there are other calendars that have a slightly different system of dating things.

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