haikai

#Haikai Challenge #77 (3/16/19) March Equinox (Machi Shunbun) #haiku #senryu #haibun #tanka #haiga #renga

By Frank J. Tassone on March 16, 2019 • ( 18 Comments )

Illumination of Earth by Sun on the day of equinox (vernal and autumnal). Image by Przemyslaw “Blueshade” Idzkiewicz.

Enjoyed enough fish, haijin? Some of you marched along. Congratulations to last week’s contributors:

Haikai Challenge Participants

1. Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr
2. Tessa
3. Reena Saxena

4. Jane Dougherty
5. Jules @ Strands
6. Revived Writer

7. Janice
8. Linda Lee Lyberg

Looking ahead:

What a week coming up! St. Patrick’s Day–the unofficial Irish-American day here in the US–tomorrow, and the March Equinox arriving by Wednesday:

The March equinox^[3][4] or Northward equinox^[5][6] is the equinox on the Earth when the subsolar point appears to leave the Southern Hemisphere and cross the celestial equator, heading northward as seen from Earth. The March equinox is known as the vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and as the autumnal equinox in the Southern.^[4][3][7]

On the Gregorian calendar, the Northward equinox can occur as early as 19 March or as late as 21 March at Greenwich. For a common year the computed time slippage is about 5 hours 49 minutes later than the previous year, and for a leap year about 18 hours 11 minutes earlier than the previous year. Balancing the increases of the common years against the losses of the leap years keeps the calendar date of the March equinox from drifting more than one day from 20 March each year.

The March equinox may be taken to mark the beginning of spring and the end of winter in the Northern Hemisphere but marks the beginning of autumnand the end of summer in the Southern Hemisphere.^[8]
In astronomy, the March equinox is the zero point of sidereal time and, consequently, right ascension.^[9] It also serves as a reference for calendars and celebrations in many human cultures and religions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_equinox

Spring arrives in the Northern Hemisphere, and Autumn in the Southern. Ah, let us hope so!

This week, write the haikai poem (haiku, senryu, haibun, tanka, haiga, renga, etc.) of your choice that states, references or alludes to the March Equinox as it pertains to your hemisphere of residence (Spring for the north, Autumn for the south)

As always:

Here’s how the challenge works:

1. write the haikai poem of your choice.
2. post the link of your post to Mister Linky.
3. pingback by posting the link to the challenge on your site.
4. read and comment on other contributors’ posts.