March is the third month of the year in both the
Julian
Julian may refer to:
People
* Julian (emperor) (331–363), Roman emperor from 361 to 363
* Julian (Rome), referring to the Roman gens Julia, with imperial dynasty offshoots
* Saint Julian (disambiguation), several Christian saints
* Julian (give ...
and
Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the
Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...
, the
meteorological
Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...
beginning of
spring occurs on the first day of March. The
March equinox on the 20 or 21 marks the astronomical beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and the beginning of
autumn
Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September ( Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Sou ...
in the Southern Hemisphere, where
September is the seasonal equivalent of the Northern Hemisphere's March.
Origin
The name of March comes from ''
Martius
Martius may refer to:
* Martius (month) the month of March on the ancient Roman calendar
* Campus Martius, the "Field of Mars" in ancient Rome
* Telo Martius, an ancient name for Toulon, France
People
* Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (1794–1 ...
'', the first month of the earliest
Roman calendar. It was named after
Mars, the
Roman god of war, and an ancestor of the Roman people through his sons