Spring/Autumn Equinox
Relationships with ourselves, each other, and all life
This year, the Spring/Autumn Equinox comes on March 20 or 21 depending where you are in the world. If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, this day ushers in Spring; the Southern Hemisphere, Autumn.
Where I live, I’m excited for the warm weather coming, planting trees and veggies with friends and family (special shoutout to my partner and my mom!!), and the return of all sorts of birds and animals to these lands. The other day, I saw a bright red cardinal float across the sky, and smelled the dirt slowly unearthing as the snow melts.
With all that said, what makes the Equinox most interesting to me this year is remembering what the Equinox actually is — in simple terms (for anyone really into astronomy and earth science, my apologies for oversimplifying), the March and September Equinoxes are the only two days in the year when the sun directly hits the equator. The Earth’s rotation for the Equinox day keeps the Equator roughly perpendicular with the sun’s rays.
The result is really cool: the Equinox is the only day when everyone in the world gets roughly the same 12 hours of sunlight.
This means that all life on our planet shares an experience. Days like these are meaningful to me, and it seems are historically meaningful to a lot of people considering the diverse cultural and religious events associated with the Equinox. I find days like this are a good reminder that despite all the division in our world — between humans, between humans and other species — there are moments of common experience.
It’s not realistic that a common experience like this changes anything for an evil person exerting their power over the world. They are unlikely to notice a common experience like this. My guess is that in today’s world most people in positions of extreme power who are abusing their power don’t know what the Equinox really is, and don’t care to know. I don’t feel that they care about anything other than advancing their own position, regardless of the cost to all life.
But maybe common experiences like these can change things for normal people who are trying to make the world a better place. Maybe on a day like the Equinox, normal people can come together to make change.
We can remember that we are part of a bigger common experience: the shared 12 hours of sunlight, the shared humanity, the shared existence with all life. At a local level, during these 12 hours of sunlight, people who have some extra resources can remember that other people in their community don’t have enough resources, and they can share. At a global scale, people from countries that take more than they give and cause more harm than they heal — such as, but not at all limited to, the USA, Canada, the UK, and more — can remember that during these 12 hours we might take for granted as safe, comfortable, and convenient, there are people facing severe hardship forced on them by our own countries.
Maybe remembering that can inspire us to take action. During our 12 hours of sunlight, we can make decisions that improve everyone else’s 12 hours of sunlight. This will also improve our 12 hours of sunlight.
Here are some actions you can take during the world’s shared 12 hours of Equinox sunlight:
Local actions (the exact details of these will depend on where you live):
food — volunteer some time cooking, cleaning dishes, and more at a community food centre or food bank.
shelter — stand up for affordable housing in your community at a protest, by write letters to your local politicians, or by financially supporting.
mutual aid — join local mutual aid groups to create reciprocal caring relationships with people in your community.
and more! The above are just a few examples.
Global actions (links take you to one example of an organization or action you can support — there are so many out there if you take some time to research, I just listed ones that support people having access to basics such as food, medicine, and shelter):
Palestine — Israel, USA, and western powers committing genocide
Lebanon — Israel, USA, and western powers launching war on southern Lebanon
Sudan — 15 million displaced, severe food insecurity, war crimes, genocide of Darfuris
Cuba — USA blockade and sanctions causing humanitarian crisis
USA — ICE and other USA agencies arresting and killing innocent people
Canada — Ongoing colonization and oppression of Indigenous communities
Somalia — Ongoing conflict, political violence, and extreme climate change
Haiti — over 6 million in need of humanitarian aid with gang control and violence at centre of crisis
Burkina Faso — violence causing humanitarian crisis for over four million people
Myanmar — Over 16 million people need humanitarian aid due to conflict, earthquake, and climate change
Ukraine — Russia’s war causing 11 million people to need humanitarian assistance
There are many other countries and communities facing serious crises right now. Please consider researching and supporting people in any of these countries.
And remember, you can take these actions, or actions like them, any day. It doesn’t need to be the special Equinox!
Thanks for reading,
Andrew
A couple more updates:
Food and Nature:
Our project showcasing some really cool people who connect with food and nature continues to be under way. We’ve filmed a wildlife tracking club, a greenhouse, a food market, a very urban farm, community meals, and more. More exciting updates coming on that in the coming months!
Unama’ki:
Our short film artistically showcasing Mi’kmaw cultural practices and connection to land on Unama’ki is almost complete. It is beautiful, and we are so grateful to everyone from the community who gave the project life. Hopefully we will be able to share it soon!
Foreign Aid:
We had an incredible opportunity to put together a series of short videos that encourage Canadians to care about supporting other countries in crisis. We hope the videos remind Canadians that our identity as “Canadians” requires that we do good for the rest of the world. We can make positive change at home, and we can support difficult situations in other places. WE CAN DO BOTH! We will share these videos soon hopefully!
Coexistence Films Grant:
We are still working toward this 2026 goal! We think it will be possible, and will share once we have the full details available, hopefully this summer!
Beautiful. And so many great resources to support.