This is not the first day of spring!

Don't believe your calendar!  This is not the "first day of spring."

Alright, I'm just making a soapbox speech here --- but it bugs me that people call this day what it isn't.

Today is the Vernal Equinox, or the Spring Equinox: the sun is at a particular midpoint in its ecliptic in relation to the equator, and the sunrise and sunset are exactly twelve hours apart.  "Equinox" literally means "equal night" in Latin.  

Spring is a climatic season that varies every year and at every location; it's not a specific calendar time!
 
I have no idea who thought he or she had the authority to pronounce that today is the first day of spring, and I don't know why calendar publishers do what they do, but let's face the facts and question that unidentified "authority"!

Let's rightly call it the Spring Equinox!

There.