密歇根新闻广播 各民族迎接春天的到来

It's finally here! Wednesday's vernal equinox marks the first day of spring. Celebrations marking the transition from the dark days of winter into a gentler season are part of cultural traditions across the world.

Mary Stewart Adams, a star lore¹ historian and the founder² of Michigan's only international dark sky park, joined Stateside to tell us more about why the equinox has received so much attention throughout time.

"If you look through the lens of history," Adams said, "you see that human beings are always trying to live in harmony with their environment. It might not look that way in the 21st century, but the further back you go in history, you see that all of the civic³ organizations, all of the festivals, all of the ways that humans practice their lifestyle was rooted in trying to understand, what has that overhead [in space] got to do with me down on Earth?"

It might be easy to downplay the significance of the equinox in our modern lives, but for Adams, it's not about ancient traditions, but rather "staying in rhythm with the planet in its environment."

In the Pagan tradition, the equinox is celebrated⁴ in the ritual of Ostara. According to Stanley Nunn, the priest at Pagan Pathways Temple in Madison Heights, the equinox celebration is about recognizing the cyclical nature of the seasons and the planet.

"It is a recognition of new opportunities, the rebirth of all things in the Earth and in our lives. So this time is very important for us individually and as a group to recognize the opportunity that we can start over," Nunn said.

In Persian culture, the start of spring is marked by the holiday Nowruz, or Persian New Year. There are a variety of traditions that go with the holiday, including gift giving and poetry readings with the family, but most prominent are the haft-sin tables that houses put together. Zoreh Raein, who runs a Persian school in Troy, says each object laid out on the haft-sin table is symbolic⁵.

"The seven 's' are for the things we put on the table, and each item has a symbol. Like apple is started with 's' in Farsi, [and] it is the symbol of health and good diet. Then we have things that we make all started with 's;' garlic, symbol of [being] well and healthy; goldfish, symbol of life; and we always dye eggs, which are the symbol of fertility," Raein explained.

In other cultures, the celebration of spring focuses on the joy and colors of new growth. In Hinduism, this happens during the festival of colors called Holi. Tom Patel, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Hindu Temple in Canton, said that the holiday began with the farmers in India celebrating the return of color in their crops. Now, the day is celebrated by getting covered in colorful powders.

While Patel shared happy memories of past Holi celebrations, he said his favorite part is passing on the tradition.

"I like to coordinate⁶ the youngsters to give them the same feeling I had in those days, so that is what I like most, but still I love to be part of it," Patel said.

1 lore   

n.传说；学问，经验，知识

参考例句：

• I will seek and question him of his lore.我倒要找上他，向他讨教他的渊博的学问。
• Early peoples passed on plant and animal lore through legend.早期人类通过传说传递有关植物和动物的知识。

2 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

3 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

4 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

5 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

6 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。