Today’s arrival of the vernal equinox gives students the re-assurance for many nice summer days to come. Sabrina Bauggue is one of many University students excited for the end of winter. With the spring expectations of sunshine and warmer air looming, students are ready to ditch their pants for shorts and remain outdoors. “I absolutely hate the cold,” said Bauggue, nutritional sciences dietetics senior. “I’m a summer baby, so I’m excited for summer.” The first day of spring is the official end of winter. With 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night, the spring equinox marks longer days and warmer weather. For the central time zone, the vernal equinox sunrise was at 6:44 a.m.”The term equinox means equal night, where the Earth’s position related to the sun makes the same amount of hours between day and night,” said Ricardo Nogueira, geography doctoral student. “The solar point, the position of the sun, is over the equator.”While New Year’s Day marks the beginning of the new year, the equinoxes mark the beginnings of seasons. The vernal equinox marks the beginning of spring and summer, longer day hours than night hours, more solar energy and more intense thunderstorms for the northern hemisphere.”After the spring equinox, we get stronger thunderstorms because contrasting air masses mix,” said Nogueira. “Colder air masses from Canada come down and mix with the warm air masses from the Gulf of Mexico, which developed from the increase in insolation or solar energy. These contrasting air masses make for stronger storms.”After the spring equinox, the Earth’s 23.5 degree tilt will allow the northern hemisphere to receive more solar energy, making our seasons change from winter to spring and eventually to summer.”With the summer solstice, the solar point is 23.5 degrees North at the Tropic of Cancer, so the northern hemisphere gets more direct sun,” said Nogueira. “With solstices, one hemisphere gets more solar energy. With equinoxes, both hemispheres get the same amount.”Nogueira said a Greek astronomer and mathematician named Hipparchus discovered the solstices and the equinoxes in his lifetime circa 190 to 120 B.C.E. Hipparchus discovered the procession of the equinoxes, which is the slow movement among the stars of the two opposite places where the sun crosses the celestial equator. The vernal equinox doesn’t only gain importance from the stars, but also through religion. The first day of spring is also the Persian New Year, called Norooz. “Norooz is based back 7,000 years ago in the Persian empire,” said Pedram Taheri, member of the Iranian Cultural Society of Louisiana. “We celebrate the first day of spring on the exact minute the equinox happens.”Taheri said Norooz, which translates as “new day,” lasts for 13 days. It is celebrated on the vernal equinox because spring time represents the Earth being reborn. On the Islamic calendar, Norooz 2009 is celebrating the new year of 1388.”It’s when nature, trees and grass become green again, and they start blooming,” said Taheri. “Everything is reborn at that time. We deal with a lot of things in nature.”Traditional practices of Norooz include Persian families wearing new clothing, growing wheat or barley to make new year wishes and gathering things that start with the Persian “s,” such as the Persian word for wine.  Another traditional practice is having two goldfish in water, with the goldfish representing life and the water representing purity.”I’m getting tired of winter,” said Aaron Sievers, mass communication sophomore. “I’m going to enjoy the spring time. If the weather is nice on the first day of spring, I’m going to lie on the Parade Ground, play Frisbee and blow up water balloons to wreak havoc. I’ll use the 12 hours of night to sleep.”—-Contact Mary Walker Baus at [email protected]