Claim: A special property of the equinox allows eggs to be balanced on end that day.
Origins: Every year on the vernal equinox (on or about March 21), one of the two days per year in which the length of day and night are the same, we hear about a magical property of this day that allows eggs to be balanced on end. Rarely does a year go by in which a local TV news station doesn't send a reporter out to a neighborhood park to capture images of people delightedly placing eggs on the ground and watching in amazement as the eggs stand on end. Rarely do we see any new stories reporting that this same feat can be achieved every other day of the year as
well.
The equinox, which marks the beginning of spring, has long held a special importance in human society. The first day of spring is the end of winter; the beginning of the season in which daylight again outlasts darkness and life springs anew. Flowers blossom, trees shoot out new leaves and branches, and animals give birth (or their eggs hatch). These tangible signs of the world's rebirth were of paramount importance to agricultural societies, and they naturally developed elaborate fertility rites to celebrate the occasion. Thus eggs — one of the most ubiquitous symbols of fertility and birth — have long been associated with the beginning of spring, and hence with the equinox. Many, many superstitions involving the breaking, balancing, burying, decorating, reading (for purposes of divination) and hiding of eggs have come to be part of the annual spring celebration. (The linking of egg-balancing with spring celebrations is demonstrated by the fact that the practice is associated only with the vernal equinox, not the autumnal equinox.)
The Chinese are thought to have originated the practice of standing eggs on end during the equinox. Just as the equinox symbolically restores balance to the world by signalling its rebirth after a season of darkness, the equinox literally balances the day by dividing it into equal portions of darkness and light. If the symbol of fertility — eggs— could be balanced on end during a day equally divided between day and night, this was a sign that all nature was in harmony. That the balancing of eggs could be achieved on any day of the year was of no importance; what everyone wanted and needed was a familiar, reassuring ritual to demonstrate that all was right with the world.
Last updated: 21 March 2007
The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/science/equinox.asp
Sources:
