What's the Big Deal about Equinoxes and Solstices?

DSU will be hosing a Spring Equinox even in the near future, but what is the big deal about the Equinoxes and Solstices, and why are they a source of celebration?

Here is one perspective:  Genesis 1:14 notes Then God said, 'Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years...

So, from the earliest chapters in the Bible we learn at the least  the lights in the sky are used for telling day from night, for signs and seasons tracking, and for time keeping.  But other than temporal record keeping what makes equinoxes and solstices noteworthy?

Early guild systems held monthly and quarterly meetings.  It was not uncommon for the monthly meeting to be scheduled at a full moon when everyone could observe that the time was at hand.  Quarterly meetings were held around the time of the equinoxes and solstices, which could be observed with just a bit more effort.

In the Middle Ages, these gatherings usually occurred on the quarter days of the civil calendar which tied the rhythms of the guild system and the church, and the civil calendar to cosmologically observable events.  The Spring Equinox marked the beginning of the new year and the renewal of contracts.  The Summer Solstice marked the middle of Summer, the Autumnal Equinox the close of the harvest season, Winter Solstice the onset of Winter.  

These days were practical points of reckoning.  They were times when rents came due, labor was hired and accounts were settled.  They were also times around which medieval fairs were held. These fairs were were some of the most important economic, social and cultural events of the Middle Ages that could last from a few days to several weeks. The equinoxes and solstices were natural markers of the balance, and the extremes, of light and darkness.  Aligning meetings, gatherings, fairs, and everyday legal matters to the turning points of the heavens reflected cosmic and moral order. 

The choice of observing the equinoxes and solstices has both practical and profound results.  Practically, they were the traditional quarter days when people gathered, debts were paid and new work began.  Symbolically they marked the balance of light and darkness, the rhythms of nature and the spiritual journey of humanity.  The heavens themselves offered a model of order, harmony, and eternal return.  Aligning our worldly affairs with the observable astronomical events is an echo of the divine rhythm of the cosmos.

The big deal about the equinoxes and the solstices is that they are the original clock of our world.  Knowing how to "tell time" by the celestial clock is a real skill and one worthy of observing.