There’s lots to celebrate this week — the vernal equinox, also referred to as the first day of Spring, Pi Day, and St. Patrick’s Day. The vernal equinox is the moment when the sun crosses the celestial equator — an imaginary line in the sky above Earth’s equator — from south to north. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), it will occur at 11:06 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. This is the earliest date that it can be, and is largely due to the Leap Year system that our calendar uses. The vernal equinox was on March 19 in 2020, but that was the first time since 1896. This is because a Leap Day is not added in years divisible by 100, unless it is divisible by 400, as the year 2000 was. So, the addition of a Leap Day in 2000 reset the calendar so that the vernal equinox comes earlier.
We will see spring arrive on March 19 a number of times during this century, not just in Leap Years, but when there is no Leap Day in 2100, it will go back to the equinox occurring on March 20 or 21. That is, until 2400.
I will save you from going down the rabbit hole of checking the date historically. Before 1753, in the United States, the vernal equinox occurred much earlier – according to the Julian calendar, which was the calendar in use here at that time. The Gregorian calendar was originally introduced in some European countries in 1582, but its adoption took over 300 years. To get the calendar back in sync with astronomical events like the vernal equinox, a number of days had to be dropped.
The papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, decreed that 10 days be dropped when switching to the Gregorian Calendar. However, the later the switch occurred, the more days had to be omitted.
Through enactment of the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750, Great Britain and its possessions, including parts of what is now the United States, adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752, by which time it was necessary to correct by 11 days. Wednesday, September 2, 1752, was followed by Thursday, September 14, 1752.
Not only does March start to feel spring-like, it is the month when we gain the most hours of sunlight. The increase in daylight after the winter solstice begins very slowly – starting with an increase of 48 seconds on January 1. The increase per day peaks in mid-March at 3 minutes and 10 seconds per day. In February, we gained a total of one hour and 20 minutes of daylight, with 11 hours and 52 minutes today. By the end of March, we will have gained an hour and 36 minutes more, ending with 12 3/4 hours on Easter Sunday. After mid-March, the rate of increase slows, but still increases until the Summer Solstice on June 20, when we will have just over 15 and half hours.
Dale Manty hosted the 12th annual Mäntyboyz weekend getaway Feb 23-25 at Omena House. Nephews, cousins, sons-in-law and friends from the UP, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Traverse City and Maryland -— seven in all — hiked trails in Omena Woods and Leelanau State Park, sought bargains at local thrift stores, sampled beverages from favorite wineries and distilleries, and agreed that a Hop Lot Igloo can’t be topped as a story telling venue. The participants included his son-in-law Brent Miller, cousins Adam Manty, Andy Manty, and Aaron Werner, and friends Bryan Berghoef and Dan Smith.
Home cooked meals that brisk weekend included fabulous Yooper Italian meatballs and pecan pie from a 1908 pre-corn syrup recipe. Kangaroo Rummy and a lively round of The Game of Things (Your Friends Will Say) and Michigan hockey on the tube were all part of the fun. Topping things off was an inaugural-- and solo -- Omena Bay Plunge on sunny 26-degree Sunday afternoon by Aaron Werner, as the rest watched, and are now challenged to join in for the next Annual Omena Bay Winter Plunge in 2025.
Happy Pi Day today, March 14, or 3.14. The number π is a mathematical constant that is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, approximately equal to 3.14159. Ancient civilizations, including the Egyptians and Babylonians, required fairly accurate approximations of π for practical computations. Around 250 BC, the Greek mathematician Archimedes created an algorithm to approximate π with arbitrary accuracy. In the 5th century AD, Chinese mathematicians approximated π to seven digits. The earliest known use of the Greek letter π to represent the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter was by the Welsh mathematician William Jones in 1706.
The O’Mena St. Patrick’s Day is this Sunday at 3 pm. The parade forms on Isthmus Road starting at 2:30 pm.
This week is almost a recordsetter for birthdays with Omena connections. Six people have their birthdays on March 16 – John Smart, Shep Tate, Joanne Dalzell, Michael Warner, Lorelei Robinson, and Dennis Colling. Happy Birthday also this week to Nathan Kalchik, Elizabeth Biederman, Sarah Murphy, Mike Adelson, Dereck Huffman, Charlie Phillips, Sarah Viskochil, Jackie Bojarski, Kris Sommavilla, and to cousins Astrid Lingaur, who turns 6 on March 19, and Eliam Groot, who turns 3 the same day.
