On the days of the spring equinox, daylight becomes equal to night. In this short period of time, the sun's rays fall strictly perpendicular to the equator. And at the end of these days, the luminary migrates to the Northern Hemisphere of the celestial sphere from the Southern. March 21 is officially considered to be the vernal equinox. Daylight hours begin to increase. The days of the vernal equinox are not only the onset of astronomical spring, but also the beginning of the tropical year. It approximately lasts 365.2422 days. Due to the resulting inaccuracy, the equinox moves in time by about 5-6 hours each cycle. But it is the tropical year that is accepted by scientists for measuring time. For example, the spring equinox of 2013 occurred on March 20 at 3 pm and 2 minutes Moscow time. Around the same time it will be in the next, 2014. Then the day and time will change.
For a modern person, the days of the vernal equinox are only an informative event - this means that the day will now become longer than the night. In ancient times, people lived in unity withnature, and for them the semantic load was more voluminous. The Slavs these days celebrated the Komoeditsa holiday, which lasted 2 weeks. People burned a scarecrow, personifying winter and the prevalence of darkness in life, baked sacrificial bread (pancakes), dressed up in costumes and acted out skits, thereby calling for spring and celebrating the New Year.
First, the effigy of Morena (the goddess of winter and death) was taken in troikas through the villages, sang majestic songs, and then, after burning, solemnly buried. Then came the days of honoring Ber - the bear. One of the men dressed up in the skin of an animal. The rest gave him pancakes, entertained him with songs and dances. The rite of awakening the bear ended these days. After seeing off winter, the moment of glorification of Yarila, the deity of the Sun, came. A handsome young man was dressed up as a groom, they looked for a bride for him and played their wedding. This symbolized the union of Yarila and "Yarilikha" as the personification of fertility and creation. From that moment it was believed that the renewal of all living things begins, goodness and light come into force. With the adoption of Christianity, this holiday smoothly moved to Maslenitsa, but acquired a different meaning.
New Year, or Novruz, was celebrated on this day in the old days in all countries along which the Great Silk Road ran: in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. It was one of the biggest holidays of the Aryans who inhabited these territories in antiquity. They worshiped fire and the Sun, and therefore the prevalence of daylight indays for them meant the goodwill of heaven to man. On the eve of the holiday, all people had to make peace with each other. In each house, jugs were filled with grain, water and milk, which should have attracted good luck next year, a generous harvest, rich milk yield, a good offspring of livestock. In the morning, on the days of the spring equinox, a feast was arranged. Be sure to serve dishes filled with sprouted grains to the table, which symbolized the arrival of the New Year. After the adoption of Islam by the peoples in these states, the holiday was also adopted in the Islamic calendar.
