Japanese day on summer equinox

Although Shubun-no-hi is a national holiday, a lot of people don’t know what this day means. September 23 is the equinox, the 24-hour period when day and night are the same, the beginning of the fall season. On this day the sun shines on the equator for 24hours. On the next day, days begin to become shorter than nights in the Northern Hemisphere. In Japan’s past, the autumnal equinox was called shuki-koureisai (the autumn festival of the Emperor’s spirits). On this day, the emperor worshiped his ancestors by himself.