Community gathers at UMass Sunwheel to witness spring equinox

Spring officially sprung at 1046 this morning and those at the UMass Sunwheel gathered to celebrate the equinox. 22 News reporter Nick Antonakis was at the gathering bright and early and learned why this ancient tradition still means so much to the community. Spring has sprung and a group at the Sunwheel at UMass Amherst gathered once again this time in not very spring-like temperatures to welcome in the equinox. We live just down the street in Hadley and we've been coming here since the early days. You know it doesn't feel much like spring today but it is and that's what stone circle calendars do. They tell you what time it is in the year regardless of the weather. And today being the vernal equinox signals the start of spring. It marks one of the two times each year when the Sun and Earth's equator align. The Sun rises due east, sets due west, stays up for 12 hours and then down for 12 hours. So Grant Wilson, the head of the astronomy department at UMass Amherst and a group of others gather at the center of the wheel to see the Sun rise and eventually set over the stones place to show the equinoxes in the shadows. We stand in a big group in the middle. We talk through the geometry of the Earth and the Sun and and how we're tilted and how we're spinning and it gets very complicated but we can always turn back to the stones. Celebrating the equinox is a tradition that's happened all around the world for thousands of years and the group here in Amherst is proud to keep it going at the standing stones. This goes all the way back to the pagans. It's the reason we have Christmas when it is and Easter when it is with artificial light and clocks. We don't really need this except this is a beautiful way to have community. The group will be back for the summer solstice in a few months. Working for you, Nick Antonakis, 22 News.