MARCH 20TH is the first day of spring, or "vernal equinox" as astronomers would have it, vernal meaning "of or pertaining to spring," equinox meaning "equal night." As the angle of the earth's inclination toward the sun changes throughout the year, lengthening or shortening the days according to season and hemisphere, there are two times annually when day and night are of more-or-less equal length: the spring and autumnal equinoxes. These celestial tipping points have been observed for thousands of years and given rise to a considerable body of seasonal folklore.
Eostra > Estrogen > Easter
Spring has been celebrated throughout human history as a time of organic and spiritual rebirth following the "dying of the year" in winter. The ancient Germanic festival of Ostara (in honor of the goddess also known as Eostra, from whose name the word estrogen was derived) celebrated the cyclical return of light and life with fertility rituals and symbols, some of which still survive in the modern observance of Easter, which traditionally falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox.
Eggs in the balance
The egg being the most literal and obvious of all fertility symbols, ancient eggish customs survive not only in the form of egg rolling and Easter egg hunts, but also in the quaint superstitious belief, most often attributed to the Chinese, that you can stand raw eggs on end on the first day of spring. Apparently this derives from the notion that due to the sun's equidistant position between the poles of the earth at the time of the equinox, special gravitational forces apply.
If you approach it skeptically, though, it doesn't really make much sense. There's an autumnal equinox every year, too. How come there are no egg balancing contests in September? Secondly, while it's true that on both equinoxes the earth's axis is perpendicular to the sun so day and night are of equal length, there's no scientific reason to suppose that such an alignment exercises a perceptible gravitational effect on solid objects here on earth. Thirdly, if the equinox can cause this curious anomaly, why doesn't it cause others? Why don't we see people standing broomsticks, pencils, lollipops, and foot-long hot dogs on end? Why only eggs?
With a few grains of salt
I'm not saying it can't be done — standing raw eggs on end, I mean — it certainly can, but the trick takes patience, eggs of just the right shape, a pinch of salt if all else fails, and — here's the biggest "secret" of all — it works equally well any day of the year.
Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy home page rightly condemns all this as unscientific hooey, but don't let that stop you from gathering friends and family around to try it out yourself. At the risk of being boiled and dyed for heresy, I daresay there is more to life than science.
• SPECIAL: Readers share their own egg balancing experiences!
