SUNDAY FUNDAY, MARCH 20, 2022

 SUNDAY FUNDAY, MARCH 20, 2022

EARTH SCIENCE AND RELIGION AND CELEBRATIONS

The spring equinox is at 10:33 a.m. today (Central Time) March 20th. 

“On the Gregorian calendar, the northward equinox can occur as early as 19 March or as late as 21 March at Greenwich.” Greenwich is the location where the eastern hemisphere and western hemisphere meet - in Greenwich England.  Greenwich is a suburb of London.  Technically GMT - Greenwich Mean Time was the standard (and still is) for setting time zones around the world.  And technically UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) is the successor to GMT and UTC is more precise (with atomic clocks accurate to the fractions of a second).  

So, depending on where you live, spring arrives today - at 11:33 Eastern or 9:33 Mountain time or 8:33 Pacific time.  

It is the very precise time that the rays from the sun cross the equator.  The equator is the imaginary line that surrounds the globe at the middle or zero latitudes.  At this time of year in the northern hemisphere, with the earth’s rotation of about 23 degrees, the rays from the sun will continue to be horizontal to the north of the equator.  

At 4:13 a.m. on Tuesday, June 21st, 2022, the sun will be at its farthest north point of the year - which will be the summer solstice (or, in the southern hemisphere, the winter solstice).

So, astronomical spring goes from the spring equinox to the summer solstice (approximately 3 months).  

I am living in Georgetown Texas with a latitude of 30.6333° North (or about 30.6 degrees north of the equator).  For comparison, the neighboring town of Round Rock is at 30.5083° N and Austin is officially at 30.2672° N.  For my friends in South Dakota, Sioux Falls is at: 43.5460° N; and for my friends in Connecticut, Hamden is at 41.3839° N.  So, Sioux Falls is a couple of degrees farther north than Hamden.  (Aside - so is that why winters in South Dakota are longer than winters in Connecticut?)

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MOON

This year, the full moon in March was two days ago on Friday, March 18 at 3:17 am.  Moons have casual names, and this full moon was called the Full Worm Moon.  The next Full moon is on Friday, April 16th at 1:55 pm - Central time - and is called the Pink Moon.

So, the Full Moon for March was two days ago, so the first full moon for April will be in about 28 days.

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(Okay, Karen, there are seasons and moons - we knew that. Where are you going?  Your title said earth science and religion)

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(Ancient History).  

The Jews (Hebrews) left Egypt about 1300 BCE.  The main event that caused the exodus from Egypt was when God killed all the firstborn sons in Egypt but spared those who had the blood of a perfect lamb smeared on their doorposts.  The term is “Passover”.  The Angel of Death - passed over the houses with blood (the Jewish/Hebrew houses where Moses had told the people to smear blood on the lintels), but killed all the firstborn on houses without the blood of a lamb. 

Thus in Jewish history, since the 13th century BCE, they have celebrated Passover.  And (getting to the point).  This occurred at the time of the first full moon after the spring equinox.

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Then came this Jewish rabbi in the first century who many claimed was the “Messiah” - the Savior of the World.  He riled up the old order by talking about love, forgiveness, turning the other cheek.  In one place there is a list of what this rabbi talked about: the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  

This was pretty radical and the world (or mostly the western world - Europe and the Americas adopted this philosophy and the religion called Christianity.  

This Jesus was crucified on the day before the highest day of the Passover (and the blood of the perfect lamb of God was poured out) according to Christian beliefs.

These Christians wanted a holiday to celebrate the coming back to life (aka “resurrection”) of this rabbi - which is called Easter.  But since this resurrection is based on the Jewish Passover, the feast of Easter is thus based on the Jewish feast of Passover the two times are related.

So, (most of) the Christian world celebrates Easter as the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox (or this year on April 17th).

Alas - there is more.  The Orthodox Christians (Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, etc.) celebrate Easter as the first Sunday, after the first full moon after the spring equinox - AFTER the Jewish Passover.  So our Orthodox friends are celebrating on April 24th - since the Jewish Passover will be done by then!!!.

(And, only slightly related … my Uncle George said “Plant your potatoes on Good Friday”.  Since Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon, after the spring equinox, Good Friday will be close to the full moon.  The thought is that as you plant the potato ‘eyes’ the pull of the moon will be strongest on them during the time of the full moon!!)

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MEMORIES (GARDENING)

We are over halfway through March.  This past week was spring break for schools and that seems to signal our first bluebonnets. To me (not a native Texan), that is the biggest sign of spring.

Spring up north might mean the first crocus or the first green blade of grass.  As spring went on the redbud trees would show those beautiful buds starting to open.  Other areas might have magnolia trees popping on, or cherry blossoms.  My previous campus had rows of white apple blossoms that were planned to open about graduation time.  (The physical plant staff had to set up graduation on the lawn in front of the library and also in the athletic arena - just in case of rain!!!)

Glorious spring would be tulips, daffodils, and finally the luscious aroma of lilacs.  (Yes, you can almost get high just smelling those lilacs).  I don’t know if there were a difference in the lilac varieties - but the purple seemed more predominant than the white or lighter colors. 

Another sign of spring is the desire to plant a garden.  My grandfather had a garden in our yard (we had a huge backyard, and I was my grandfather's little helper).  He was much more methodical as a gardener than I ever was.  The rows were exactly straight, the seeds were very carefully spaced out, the rows were marked.  I was more haphazard and less precise as a gardener.

His garden was large and well planned.  Various varieties of green beans - also planted at intervals so the crops would keep coming on, plus pole beans.  He was a retired postal clerk and loved to get outside after the Iowa winters. 

There were the vining things - cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, and more.  The cucumbers included the little gherkins for pickling and the larger cucumbers for salads.  (My grandmother also made a cucumber salad)

One thing that I have followed my grandfather with is the planting of unusual things.  He had yellow, red, heirloom, and even pink tomatoes.  He had "ground cherries or husk tomatoes" - which were more like a tomatillo - with small red (or yellow) tomatoes in a husk.  My grandmother would make a jam out of the husk tomatoes.  

Our large backyard growing up sometimes became overrun with blackberries.  When they were ripe, my mother put on her garden clothes and went to battle against the thorns to harvest the blackberries.  Seemingly she was impenetrable to the thorns as she brought in potfuls of the berries.  These she made into blackberry pies.  

We also had a huge mulberry tree in the backyard.  I liked picking those berries which yielded their stems so, you ate the berries and spit out the stem.  

Did you garden?  Do you still garden?  I have three containers on my patio - a tomato plant that somehow survived the winter (yes I brought it in and out); Swiss Chard and spinach.  I like being able to take my kitchen shears and cut some leaves for a fresh garden salad.

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Have an awesome Sunday, and an awesome week!!!

LOVE WINS!!

Karen

March 20, 2022