Today is the usual day of the vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and the autumnal equinox in the Southern, marking the first day of spring and autumn respectively. It's one of the two days each year when the centre of the Sun spends an equal amount of time above and below the horizon at every location on Earth.

The March equinox is culturally important around the world - as well as being an occasion for pagan rituals (the Wiccan Sabbat of Ostara), it's used to calculate the date of Easter; it marks first day of the Iranian calendar, celebrated with the festival of Nourouz; and it's a national holiday in Japan, which is spent visiting family graves and holding family reunions. It's also a holiday for Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, India, Turkey, Zanzibar, Albania, and various countries of Central Asia, as well as among the Kurds.

And folk tales from various European countries claim that on the March equinox day, one can balance an egg on its point. Anyone want to try it and report back?