Best Places To Celebrate The Spring Equinox In 2024

On March 20, 2024, the spring equinox is coming in the Northern Hemisphere, marking the arrival of warmer days and religious significance for some. When it happens, people from around the world have their ways and historic places to celebrate the coming of spring. Meanwhile, it is one of two dates in the year when the sun crosses the celestial equator, meaning that both day and night last 12 hours. The other is the September equinox where we are heading towards winter. Over history, people have built sites that align with the springtime sun. The following are five best places to celebrate the spring equinox of 2024.

Visit Stonehenge in England

During Neolithic times, people hauled giant slabs of rock from the Preseli Hills in Wales to the now-famous Stonehenge site in England. Each year, thousands of people head to Stonehenge to watch the sarsen stones at the center of the site align with the sun’s movements.

While normally, tourists are not allowed to enter the inner grounds of the stone monument, the spring and fall equinox is different. On those dates, free access is opened to the public to experience the event. While celebrating the sunrise, visitors such as local pagans, druids, Wiccans and drummers noisily mark the event.

Spring equinox at El Castillo, Mexico

El Castillo (The Pyramid of Kukulkán) is the largest Mayan temple in the pre-Columbian city of Chichén Itzá. Meanwhile, it stands at around 98 ft (30 m) above the Yucatán jungle in Mexico. On the spring and fall equinoxes, viewers see a shadow slide along the edge of a set of stairs. This then creates a 120 ft-long (36.6 m) shape of a snake’s body, the head of which is carved in stone at the base of the stairs. Reportedly, the Mayans believed that this display honors the feathered serpent god, Kukulkán, who then granted its worshippers good health and a good harvest.

Nagoya, Japan and cherry blossoms

Each year, the Japanese Meteorological Corporation releases its predictions for when the cherry trees will bloom. For this reason, spring is the cherry blossom season in Japan and in 2024, it is predicted to start on the spring equinox in Nagoya. It then moves northward, starting in major cities like Toyko and Kyoto later in March. Meanwhile, what is termed the Vernal Equinox Day (spring equinox) is a public holiday in the country. This makes it the perfect time to enjoy a hanami (cherry blossom-viewing) picnic.

Spring equinox at Angkor Wat, Cambodia

The sprawling Angkor Wat temple complex was built in the 12th century as a Hindu temple city. However, the 402-acre complex was later dedicated to Buddhism. Moreover, the temple complex was built in such a way that at dawn on the spring equinox, the sun rises directly behind the center tower, casting the entire temple into a silhouette, backed by the dawn sky.

Chaco Canyon National Historical Park, United States

Chaco Canyon National Historical Park is located in New Mexico in the remote Four Corners region. The park hosts a fascinating collection of huge structures dating from 850 CE. Moreover, they are considered to be the governmental and religious center of the Ancestral Puebloan world.

Meanwhile, several of these buildings mark significant astronomical events and the most impressive is the Casa Rinconada. On the spring equinox, this large, hilltop kiva (ceremonial and social chamber) sees the sun climbing its walls and shining through two aligned doorways and into a small niche in the wall.

Readers, where will you be during the spring equinox of 2024? Let us know by dropping a comment below.