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• Sock Burning on the Vernal Equinox -- Held this year on Friday, March 19, 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
  • Barge House Park
    

    What's it all about? - Ivon Paulin's Story About the Genesis of this Wacky Event

    Once again we are preparing for the annual spring ritual of the burning of the socks. Following are a few opinions from scientific types and other cultures that think they know better than the learned folks from Eastport.

    The Vernal Equinox

    The Vernal Equinox is one of the two points where the Ecliptic crosses the Celestial Equator. At the Vernal Equinox the sun appears to be moving across the equator from the Southern Celestial Hemisphere to the Northern Celestial Hemisphere. The other point where the sun crosses the Celestial Equator is the Autumnal Equinox.

    Recall that it is the apparent motion of the sun eastwards around the Ecliptic that creates the seasons that we experience at different times of the year. The arrival of the sun at the Vernal Equinox on or about March 21 marks the beginning of Spring.

    Because the number of days in the year is not a whole number, the sun does not arrive at the Vernal Equinox at the same date every year. The date of the equinox may vary by more than two days, occurring as early as 8 AM CST on March 19 in the year 2096 or as late as 1 PM CST on March 21 (1903). There is a similar variation in the date of all the solstices and equinoxes.

    March 20 Spring Equinox - March 20 Nawruz

    The Persians call the Spring Equinox Nawruz or Nourooz which means New Day. The Nourooz greeting is “Har Roozat Nourooz Va Nouroozat Pirouz” which means “May your every day be the new day and each new day be a successful one."

    Now here's the real story!!

    Long ago, the Eastport waterfront consisted of working boat yards, boat builders and large petroleum storage tanks. There were two good pubs and no fancy restaurants to lure tourists to the peninsula. These were the days before global warming, when the creeks and even the bay would freeze completely over. Winter seemed to linger forever and temperatures would fall into single digits (this was before wind chill) with alarming regularity.

    During this time there was nothing much to do in the winter except to wait for the first warm breeze to waft up from the south and to do your part to insure that the local pubs did not go out of business. The inhabitants of this primitive environment were for the most part involved in either selling or maintaining boats.

    During one particularly harsh winter a small group of these workers led by Bob Turner at Annapolis Harbor Boatyard decided that they would do something about these long, cold winters. They set up a paint tray with some wood and a little fuel to get it started, doffed their socks, placed them in the inferno and broke out an ice cold case of Budweiser. Having done this, they decreed an end to winter and commenced with activities that were more in line with the newly decreed spring season. Mother Nature, having recognized when she had been outdone, acquiesced and banished the winter weather for the season.

    As with all truly significant events in history, this one did not go unnoticed by the world at large. A few of the world's more prominent astronomers heard of this event and conspired to steal the glory of man's conquest over nature away from our local heroes. They declared that this day, which they then dubbed "The Vernal Equinox," was controlled by the movements of the planets and the "Burning of the Socks" had nothing to do with it! Now we all know better than that, which is why we continue to uphold the tradition that was officially passed on to EYC by Bob Turner when he departed Eastport in frustration. Bob was so disgusted with the way the academic world had treated him that he tied a pair of socks to his antennae and said he was going to head south until someone asked him what they were.

    Well, the world keeps turning, and it seems that Bob Turner has returned to our midst. So, if you want to take part in controlling Mother Nature and help to show the world who is really in charge of the seasons, burn your sock, drink beer, eat oysters and drive "Old Man Winter" out on a south wind driven by the heat and pungency of our fire!!

  Thank you to Ivon Paulin and Eastport Yacht Club for the "real" story!