Q 01/05

A 1945 Life magazine story from China fed the US myth that which food stands on end only at the spring equinox?

A) A lemon

B) An egg

C) A walnut

D) An onion

Answer · why

B) An egg

An egg will balance on its end on any day of the year, given a steady hand. The equinox legend spread across America after reports of a standing craze...

Q 02/05

At which ancient Mexican city does a shadow serpent seem to crawl down a pyramid at the spring equinox?

A) Palenque

B) Tenochtitlan

C) Chichen Itza

D) Teotihuacan

Answer · why

C) Chichen Itza

Chichen Itza draws thousands each March to watch triangles of late-afternoon light ripple down El Castillo's balustrade. The effect lasts for weeks, s...

Q 03/05

Which Christian festival falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox?

A) Easter

B) Pentecost

C) Palm Sunday

D) Epiphany

Answer · why

A) Easter

Easter can fall anywhere from 22 March to 25 April because it follows the Moon as well as the Sun. For the sum, churches treat 21 March as the equinox...

Q 04/05

Which Persian New Year festival, celebrated for over 3,000 years, is timed to the spring equinox?

A) Songkran

B) Losar

C) Diwali

D) Nowruz

Answer · why

D) Nowruz

Nowruz means 'New Day' in Persian. The Iranian calendar year opens that day if the equinox arrives before noon in Tehran, and on the next day if it co...

Q 05/05

Which country makes the spring equinox a national holiday, spent visiting family graves and holding reunions?

A) China

B) Japan

C) Vietnam

D) Thailand

Answer · why

B) Japan

Japan made Vernal Equinox Day a public holiday in 1948. The date is only confirmed in February of the year before, once astronomers have measured when...