Surprising Facts About Spring

Sound the flute! Now it's mute! Bird's delight, Day and night, Nightingale, In the dale, Lark in sky,-- Merrily, Merrily merrily, to welcome in the year. Little boy, Full of joy; Little girl, Sweet and small; Cock does crow, So do you; Merry voice, Infant noise; Merrily, merrily, to welcome in the year. Little lamb, Here I am; Come and lick My white neck; Let me pull Your soft wool; Let me kiss Your soft face; Merrily, merrily, to welcome in the year.

(William Blake)

Springtime is finally here. If you love this time of year as much as we do you might find these surprising Spring facts as interesting as we do:

The first day of the season is known as the vernal equinox. Vernal meaning spring in Latin.

On the same day a person living in the North Pole would observe the sun touching the horizon, which signals the start of six months of continual sunshine. In the South Pole, the opposite applies, a person would see the skimming Sun as the beginning of six month long darkness.

The first day of spring in the Southern Hemisphere is the first day of Autumn in the North.

As told in Greek Mythology, when Spring returns, Persephone (the daughter of Demeter and the goddess of plants and fertility) also returns.

Sowing or seed-time in Latin is an sationem for the word season.

The Ancient Egyptians erected the Great Sphinx so that it faces the rising sun on the day of Spring Equinox.