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| March 23, 2009 | (Use j/k keys to navigate)  Email to a friend  Permalink |
Signs of Spring
The Northern Hemisphere is once more beginning its lean towards the Sun, with the spring equinox taking place last Friday, March 20th. People all over are welcoming the spring sunshine and new growth in many ways - from Stonehenge and Mayan pyramids to Dutch meadows and Texan beaches. Here is a collection that shows some of the signs of spring as we shake off the last bits of winter. (29 photos total)
Effigies burn during the finale of the Fallas festival, which welcomes spring and honours Saint Joseph's Day, in Valencia in the early hours of March 20, 2009. Fallas are elaborate giant sculptures and effigies made of wood and plastic which are burned at the end of the week-long spectacle of processions, fireworks, music and dancing. (REUTERS/Heino Kalis) #
The sun rises over Stonehenge as druids celebrate the Spring Equinox at Stonehenge on March 20 2009 near Amesbury, Wiltshire, England. Several hundred druids and pagans were granted special access to the ancient monument to mark the date in the calender when the length of the day and the night are equal. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images) #
An Afghan girl plays as others gather to celebrate the Afghan New Year in Kabul March 21, 2009. Afghanistan uses the Persian calendar which runs from the vernal equinox. The calendar takes as its start date the time when the Prophet Mohammad moved from Mecca to Medina in 621 AD. The current Persian year is 1388. (REUTERS/Omar Sobhani) #
Iraqi Kurds carry torches up a rocky hill as they celebrate Nowruz in the Kurdish town of Akra, 500km north of Baghdad on March 20, 2009. Nowruz marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the year in Iranian calendar. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox, which usually occurs on March 21. (SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images) #
Masked dancers wear their traditional ritual masks during a festival in the village of Kalipetrovo, north-east of the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, Saturday, March, 21, 2009. Ritual mask dances are popular in rural Bulgaria with participants dressed in sheepskin garments and wearing scary masks with the intention to drive away the evil spirits or ghosts for the beginning of the spring season. (AP Photo/Petar Petrov) #
People attend the spring equinox in front of the Kukulkan Pyramid (or "El Castillo") in Chichen Itza, Mexico, Saturday, March 21, 2009. This Mayan pyramid was built so that the shadows of a corner of the pyramid would fall on a stairway and create the image of an illuminated serpent (visible on the left side). (AP Photo/Israel Leal) #
Strollers walk through a sea of crocusses in the park of the castle in Husum, northern Germany, as temperatures reached nine degrees Celsius (48.2 Fahrenheit) on Tuesday, March 17, 2009. According to a legend, monks in the 15th century planted the first crocusses here, and today some 4.5 million of them blossom here. (AP Photo/Heribert Proepper) #
A U.S. Marine patrols with an opium poppy flower on his helmet on March 19, 2009 near Baqwa in Farah province of southwest Afghanistan. The Marines based at the remote village are battling a Taliban insurgency funded in large part from the multi-billion dollar drug export trade thriving in the south of the country. (John Moore/Getty Images) #
A flock of snow geese fly over Wolf Lodge Bay Wednesday, March 18, 2009 on the east side of Lake Coeur d'Alene near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The birds migrate from their winter area of the western Gulf Coast to their summer range of northern Alaska and arctic Canada for breeding. (AP Photo/Coeur d'Alene Press, Jerome A. Pollos) #
New Yorkers are covered in colored powder and dye during Holi, also known as Phagwah, celebrations March 15, 2009 in the Queens borough of New York City. Holi is originally an Indian festival marking the arrival of spring and is also called the Festival of Colors. Many of the New York participants are of Indo-Caribbean descent from Guyana and Trinidad where the festival is known as Phagwah. (Mario Tama/Getty Images) #
More links and information
Nowruz - Wikipedia entry
Equinox - Wikipedia entry
El Castillo, Chichen Itza - Wikipedia entry
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
reminds to keep telling everyone I know to help save this planet :)
What a collection, great photo art!
number 13 is very very beautiful.
What a trivial sentimental shallow set of snaps. Grow up.
Amazing! I will have great mood all day) Thank you
You should have put 11 close to 13 because they deal with the same thing, how cows are enjoying the beginning of spring !
writer #27 and others: I wonder if one day, one post will make everybody happy. Each time, some tight ass complains about something, this time about a few girls on the beach. One picture only out of 29! Is that too much? maybe you wanted a warning with "questionable contents" as well? Get a life, get some sense of humor! This is part of the world, sorry if you hate life. Do you hear people complaining because that beautiful woman on #19 is dressed up? No, and it doesn't spoil the pleasure to look at the picture.
Quite the contrast between #3 and #13, you should sort them together. :)
Living in Saskatchewan, Canada.....we still are COMPLETELY snow covered as of today. I appreciate seeing others enjoy the signs of spring though. OH...soon....soooooooon....soon it will be here for us as well. Love Canada, but hate the winter lasting until April or May.
Very optimistic fotos in the middle of the present economical darkness. Please put some more fotos.
I love #6, 14 and 23 !
Thank you !
Beautiful and amazing pictures! I WAS one of those girls on South Padre Island back in the 60's and 70's! How time flies!
some very nice pitures
Snow started to melt, looks like a good time to open sunbathing season in Russia..
Greetings from Lithuania
Hahaha, #12 is so taken out of Lord of the Rings
#13 is also very good :)
Beautiful!
these photos are fantastic! love them all, especially the first one.
Spring ? Where my wings ?
Living in the desert, I forget how beautiful and colorful the rest of the natural world is. And I live in LAS VEGAS! LOL People out there just doing their own thing without neon lights is so simply beautiful and so encouraging while in the U.S. it seems we are reminded day in and day out of gloom and doom. It's good to see everybody's smiling faces outside the windows!!!
love the #13 with hot girls!!!!!
Thanks for all the beautiful pictures, as always, but are you shure about the year?
wasn´t it in 2008? :) it is cold and raining and also a little bit snowing in the north of Bavaria ... thanks again for a little bit of spring feeling ..... ;)
There is only one word to discribe this; fantastic! Thank you for the feast.
Frühling
Frühling läßt sein blaues Band
Wieder flattern durch die Lüfte
Süße, wohlbekannte Düfte
Streifen ahnungsvoll das Land
Veilchen träumen schon,
Wollen balde kommen
Horch, von fern ein leiser Harfenton!
Frühling, ja du bist's!
Dich hab ich vernommen!
Eduard Mörike
One of the most beautiful German poems, fitting for one of the most beautiful collections.
#13 is Spring Break... as relevant as the old folks sunning by the wall (#3) just a lil warmer in Texas. wonderful set of spring pics.
mooie fotos echt waar,maar waarom praten jullie allemaal engels?
FYI, the woman and girl in #23 are ethnically Kyrgyz, not Kazakh. You can tell by the design of the wall hangings behind them. Kazakh and Kyrgyz designs look quite different from each other and those are definitely Kyrgyz.
lovely
Boston.com is THE place to check out the best photos.
@Murielle
Omdat dit misschien een Engelse website is?
-----
Wonderfull pics :)
"Temperatures reached 17 degrees celcius (63F) that day. " comment on the 1st picture. It's Celsius actually.
V.
Just great :)
Thank you, Big Picture :)))
#7, Fallas in Valencia, Spain
I'm studying abroad this semester here in Valencia. What an amazing time!
If you'd like to see more photos of the celebration visit my flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/holadios/sets/72157614929699986/
last pic the littel girl looks like Nicole Kidman :D
These pic are great and so colorful,they have so much life to them.
What's the big deal about the spring break photo? That's a part of spring in the U.S., just as much as bluebonnets, daffodils and spring training. I loved the Norwuz photos.
Great collection of photos.
The big picture is one of my favourite time wasters. . .
most of those pictures were on my birthday. it's cool to think about all what's going on around you when it's your special day. :)
I find #22 to be the best of the set. God bless our men and women fighting for us so we can enjoy our spring season in freedom.
Love now 28 with the Yorkie who actually look quite big behind the flowers!
I, needless to say am owned by a Yorkie!
Happy Spring Northern Hemisphere!
Greetings from the another side of the world....
Happy Spring to everyone!
Only one comments for #23 Nawruz is not only Kurdish or Iranian holyday.
Spring equinox celebrated in turkik speaking countries as well.
It celebrates in Azerbaijan, Turkkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kirgiztsan and also
in Tatarstan and Bashkortostan (two authonomous regions of Russia where were Turkik speaking people live). We Turks call Novruz Ergenokon or Erken gun
(same meaning as in Persion Naw Ruz means new day in Turkish Erken Gun means new day too).
Happy Spring again!
One more comment for #23. It's better to call Nawruz not as Persian or Iranian New Year, but Central Asian New Year. Ergenokon celebrated trough all turkik speaking people in Central Asia during Spring Equinox and even in turkik speaking authonomous regions of Russia (Tatarstan and Bashkortostan). As for Turkey is celebrated there by Kurds and Turks who lives in Iqdir, Erzurum, Kars, regions close to Caucasus border. During the Ottoman times all Turks celebrate it, but not now.
Spring break/Coca-cola dance contest ...
Through this collection, the American traditions seem really futile and disconnected from the past compare to other foreign customs.
Beautiful, educative, outstanding photo's unbelievable spring shots from around the world. I loved all of them.
hi!! i´m from argentina! we´re starting autumn these days! but it still feels like summer! nice pics! c ya! ;)
enfin des bonnes nouvelles
enfin des bonnes nouvelles
Great photos. and i love the idea of knowing the world goes on around all the violence and suicide. Id love to have photos from my day of birth each year. and as an opinion i believe these photos are important to let the politicians know that ppl of other countries are not just celebrating the kill but other things as well an they are human as well. we are all gods creatures. i am related to ppl in iraq by gd and i live in usa new york state. thank you for the awakening.
fotos de lo maximo, esos dedos y hojos fotograficos los filicito me hedado un banquete de deleiti .felicidades exito a todos los inspirados de la naturalidad del mundo positivo.
Although Newroz is celebrated by many people in Asia, we must aknowledge the fact that Newroz is most deeply celebrated by the Kurds in Kurdistan and abroad, more than any other population in the world.
hip, hip, hurrah! Spring is coming !!!!
Magnificent collection of photos.
I most like the first photo.
Great collection of photos.
Unbelivable..! I,ve newer seen before beatifull pictures like this
WOW just amazing set of photos. So sad that people can still pick apart others peoples work and not just injoy, live and let live with out sniddy coments! I'm a first timer at this site its going into my favs. Just reinforces my believing in God and that he shows his beauty all over the world thx again for putting this together
The world is only north hemisphere. Here are the south hemisphire ? There are live there ?
Plese put life instead live.
So many beautiful photos to celebrate Spring, but #13 diminished them all, unfortunately.
I love all of these photos. They are wonderful!
I love all of these photos. They are so wonderful!
#13 make me puke #19 make me :D taste/cultural difference
Awesome! As usual :-)
We've been to St James Park (London) today to see the yellow flowers...
Thanks so much for sharing all these pictures with us!
Julie
http://juliebodart.dddpl.tv
Real colourful pics
Preciosas. Mil gracias.
Pretty good!
Simply wow.
The blue bonnets are out, along with the spring breakers.
I think the birds in picture #24 are Swans, and not Snow Geese. Snow Geese have black wing tips, and their neck is not as long.
Great .I congratulate the talented photographers for these nostalgic shots.Please take snaps from Kerala, my native . It too has charismatic locations to shoot.
I love the way Iranian calendar is designed. Each year is nicely aligned with seasons i.e. starts with spring and ends in winter. A complete cycle of seasons. Its art rather than astronomy.
Hi!! Excelent photos!!!
I am from Chile, South America...
Congratulation, great site!!!!
I like the sea of flowers.
It is so nice:)
Awesome photos to look at in delight! Thanks again for yet another set of astonishing beauty of Spring.
Oh for Pete's sake all you silly people criticizing #13! It's SPRING Break! Many college student spend months in winter waiting to do this exact thing to celebrate the change in weather. Stop being so prudish!
The photos are absolutely stunning! Thank you so much, my friend, for posting these!
Diane
#26 is the best one :-)
Hi!Congratulation, great site!!!!! Excelent photos!!!
Pretty good!
Great photos as usual.... especially #2
wonderful pics......... great job
Brian comment 71, the only thing that would potentially indicate excess in that picture are the three water or beers they're holding. Nothing else really points to that conclusion beyond your stereotypes of young women in bikinis.
@ comment 167, not sure it's prudishness necessarily re picture 13, it's perhaps that by comparison with other spring celebrations the North American 'hey, look we're wearing bikinis and drinking beer' seems a bit trivial... But then I'm in Europe, I've been wearing bikinis and drinking beer since I was 14, and the same goes for most of my mates. Cheers!
only one word...LOVELY
Thanks. This is very beautiful
An absolutely disgusting collection of horri..... okay, I was kidding. For a moment I thought I was Brandon. It's a beautiful slice of life around the world! But.... but will the rest of the world still like us for posting them (wringing my hands), oh, oh.... I think they left out the Chinese... and the Norwegians....
The beautiful, and meaningful pictures celebrate life, and hope. They bring out love and appreciation from within towards all mankind and nature. If only mankind would pause to enjoy the flowers, and gather some to pass on. Greetings from the Philippines.
No pics of Washington D.C. Cherry Blossom festival?
Shame
None the less, most beautiful post.
Terra-firma and your inhabitants...God's love onto you all.
#22 Cute Marine Patrol! Love the pic!
They are all great , extremely fabulous .
It was fantastic.
Our earth is marvellous, I wish everybody could understand her.
Norooz is an ancient Persian and Iranian celebration for the begining of the new year and the begining of the spring season.
The photos were amazing. It would be much better if there was a photo from the spring in Iran which is considered the homeland of Norooz.
Really spring is the gift of god
#3 never seen before, very funny
nice pics but some arent spring
amazing pictures love it
to the coment no. 128 by nazim ...
but it is also a fact that in turkey newroz is not celebrated since the foundation of the turkish republic and its not long ago that celebrating newroz for the kurds which are living in the turkish occupied part of kurdistan is not allowed and many kurds (also children) are killed still to the last celebration in 2009 by the turkish armed forced and polices ...
I like your work!,
Good Job,
Good Job,
these pictures are phenominal
better keep my comment...cos i dnt knw wat to say