<p><strong>Hot air balloons float past people watching the sunrise at the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, <a href="http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/mexico-guide/">Mexico</a>, during a festival for the first day of spring in March 2010. </strong></p><p>The vernal equinox of 2012 falls on Tuesday, March 20. The spring equinox is the first day of the solar new year and one of two days each year when the center of the<a href="http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system/sun-article.html"> sun</a> passes over the Equator. (Get more <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/100321-first-day-spring-equinox-2011-vernal-science/">spring equinox facts</a>.)</p>
Pyramid of the Sun
Hot air balloons float past people watching the sunrise at the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico, during a festival for the first day of spring in March 2010.
The vernal equinox of 2012 falls on Tuesday, March 20. The spring equinox is the first day of the solar new year and one of two days each year when the center of the sun passes over the Equator. (Get more spring equinox facts.)
Vernal Equinox Pictures: First-Day-of-Spring Celebrations
From driving out "devils" in Indonesia to dragging dead goats in Kyrgyzstan, see how people around the world mark the first day of spring.
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