About the Equinox
The equinox was chosen a long time ago as an important point in time. Many religions still retain festivals that key upon this date. This date became important because it marked the midpoint of the Earths elliptical orbit around the sun and the beginning of the season of warmth and natural growing season.
The ancient scientists who decided this had discovered what we call precession. This is a a complex feature of the rotation of the earth best described as a wobble. Over a long span of time, the wobble alters the apparent position of the suns arc across the sky. The rising point and setting point also seems to move. The only constant was the mid-point which is the equinox. The ancients who first noted this had several thousand years of careful observation and notation to confirm this feature.
The ancients who figured this out were the first astronomers. Actually, we would call them astrologers. The clue that they were the ones respnosible comes from the rule to determine the age . We are now in the age of Pisces, about to go into the age of Aquarius. The age is determined by which constallation (or house) the sun is in on the morning of the vernal (spring) equinox. It takes about two thousand years for this change to take place.
