7 spring equinox rituals that will ground you for the season ahead
As a Vermonter and natural born hater, I’ve never cared for pinning “new beginnings” on January first. For starters, it’s cold and dark. It’s also so cliché. Spring, on the other hand? It’s hopeful. The air smells fresh and earthy and I feel like I’m finally waking up from the doldrums of endless grey. (Some who agree with me have named this April Theory.)
I also have a cadre of witchy friends who start doing things around this time of year like swapping seeds for their gardens and bathing crystals to be energized by the sun or some such business. I am always an eager participant, though I offer little to no gardening skills or crystal knowledge.
But I love these little rituals. They give me pause to think about all the generations that came before and all the ones that will come after. And most of all, I love the dash of optimism they give me for the future. Things feel so insane and out of control these days that it’s a gift to be able to take a breath and look ahead to warm days filled with flowers, abundance, and the freedom that spring and summer always seem to bring.
This year the spring equinox lands on Friday, March 20, at 10:46 a.m. EDT. It’s the moment when day and night are roughly equal in length, right before the light starts winning. For cultures all over the world, it has been a sacred turning point for thousands of years. The Persian New Year. The Japanese Buddhist week of reflection. The Maya planting season. The Druidic celebration of returning light. These are living traditions, practiced by real communities, many of whom are navigating an uncertain and often hostile world.
I want to be honest about the fact that I’m writing this as someone looking in from the outside, not as a practitioner of any of these traditions. But learning about them has genuinely changed how I think about this time of year, and the rituals below are inspired by (not borrowed wholesale from) that deeper history.
You don’t need to be particularly spiritual or own any crystals to feel the pull of this moment. You just need to be willing to pause and notice.
Here are seven spring equinox rituals to do that.
1. Set a table of intentions
One of the traditions that stuck with me the most while researching this piece is the Haft-Seen, the ceremonial table at the center of Nowruz, the Persian New Year. Nowruz falls on the spring equinox and has been celebrated for more than 3,000 years. The Haft-Seen (it translates to “seven S’s”) is a table set with seven symbolic items, each beginning with the Persian letter “S”: sprouts for rebirth, apples for health, garlic for protection, vinegar for patience, a sweet pudding for abundance, dried fruit for love, and sumac for the color of sunrise. Families also often add a mirror, candles, painted eggs, and a book of poetry or wisdom.
I want to be clear: the Haft-Seen belongs to Persian and Iranian culture. It carries centuries of meaning that I can’t fully understand, and it feels especially important to say that plainly at a time when our government is actively engaged in hostilities with Iran. The least we can do is acknowledge where beautiful ideas come from and who keeps them alive, often under enormous pressure.
What I took from learning about the Haft-Seen is the simple, powerful concept of gathering objects that represent your hopes for the season ahead. You could try a version of this at home: set a small table or tray with seven things, each one standing for something you want to carry into spring. A seed packet. A photo of someone you want to see more. A candle for quiet. There are no rules. The point is the choosing.
If you want to learn more about Nowruz itself, the Smithsonian’s Folklife Magazine has a beautiful piece on the tradition, and it’s always a good idea to seek out Iranian-owned shops and bakeries in your community–especially this time of year.
2. Watch the sunrise (or sunset) on purpose
On the equinox, the sun rises due east and sets due west, no matter where you are on Earth. (Honestly, this was also news to me. I thought that was always the case, but turn out, it is not.) This synchronicity is only true on this day and the fall equinox. It’s so special that ancient cultures from the Egyptians to the druids to the Maya built monuments around this alignment, gathering at dawn to mark the moment.
Good news. You don’t need a megalithic monument. You just need to know which direction east is. Set your alarm. Pour your coffee. Step outside. Watch the light arrive. In Japan, the equinox falls during a Buddhist observance called Higan, a week of reflection where families visit ancestral graves and leave offerings. The practice is simply about being present to the transition.
If sunrise with small children is a nonstarter (fair), the sunset works too. On equinox evening this year, a crescent moon will be hanging near Venus just after the sun goes down. Take the kids outside with a blanket and look up.
3. Do a real spring clean
Spring cleaning isn’t just a cultural cliché. In many traditions around the world, from Persian khaneh tekani (“shaking the house”) to Eastern European pre-Easter customs, a deep clean before the equinox is about more than dusty shelves. It’s about clearing space for whatever comes next.
Pick one area: a closet, the junk drawer, the pile of shoes by the back door that has become sentient. Clear it. Not as a chore but as a practice. While you’re doing it, think about what you’re making room for. Crack the windows even if it’s still March-cold. Let the air move through.
For kids: Turn it into a “winter goodbye” ceremony. Have each kid pick three things they’re ready to let go of (a toy, a worry, a habit) and three things they want to welcome. Write them down. The “goodbye” papers can be ceremoniously ripped up together. (Or burned if you really want to excite them.) The “welcome” papers go on the fridge.
4. Plant something
Seeds might be the single most universal equinox symbol. Across civilizations and centuries, this was the moment when the earth was warm enough and the light was long enough to start putting things in the ground.
You don’t need a garden. A single herb in a pot on the windowsill counts. A few marigold seeds in a cup of dirt with your toddler counts. The act of putting something into the earth and deciding to tend it? That’s the whole thing. As you plant, set an intention for the season. What are you growing this spring, literally or not? Say it out loud or write it on a popsicle stick and push it into the soil. The kids will think this is fun. It’s also surprisingly effective for adults.
5. Try the balance check
The equinox is, at its core, about balance. It’s the only moment when light and dark are roughly equal everywhere on Earth.
For moms, “balance” can feel like a loaded word. So instead of chasing it, try using the equinox as a checkpoint. Grab a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. On one side, write what’s taking more from you than it’s giving. On the other, write what’s filling you up. No judgment. Just a look at where the weight falls right now, and one small adjustment you could make for the season ahead.
Also: try balancing eggs on the kitchen counter. It’s an old wives’ tale that eggs can only stand upright during the equinox (you can actually do it any day with patience), but it’s a legitimately delightful activity with kids and a good excuse to talk about what the equinox actually is.
6. Cook an equinox meal
Food has always been central to equinox celebrations, across every culture that marks the day. The specifics vary widely (herbed rice with fish in Iran, sweet rice balls in Japan, eggs across most of Europe), but the throughline is the same: eating things that taste like the beginning of something.
Cook with the season. Eggs in any form. Fresh herbs. Asparagus, radishes, pea shoots, whatever is just starting to show up at the market. Set the table with flowers–grocery store tulips will do. Light a candle. Go around the table and have each person share one thing they’re looking forward to this spring. It’s simple on purpose.
7. Write a letter to your summer self
This one is just for you.
Sit down sometime around the equinox, before bed, during naptime, in the car pickup line, and write a short letter to yourself dated for the summer solstice (June 20). Tell yourself what you’re hoping for. What you’re nervous about. What you want to remember about this exact moment. What you’re planting right now, metaphorically speaking. Fold it up and put it somewhere you’ll find it in three months.
The spring equinox has been a threshold moment for human beings for thousands of years. A line between the cold and the warmth, between what was and what’s possible. We didn’t invent any of this. People across the globe have been marking this day since long before us, and they’ll keep doing it long after. There’s something grounding about that, especially right now. You don’t have to be spiritual or ritualistic or even particularly optimistic to tap into it. You just need to pause long enough to notice that the world is turning, and you’re turning with it.
Happy equinox, friends!
source https://www.mother.ly/life/spring-equinox-rituals/
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