Welcoming the fall equinox

On the first day of spring 18 years ago, my husband came rushing in from work. “I just heard on the radio that during the hours surrounding the fall and spring equinox, an egg will balance on its larger end.”
He headed for the refrigerator and took out an egg. I watched as he carefully held the egg upright, steadied it and cautiously moved his fingers away.
It stayed. In fact that egg stood at attention until some time in he night when the equinox was over.
I picked up an egg and tried. I held it gently as I steadied it. I moved my fingers away. The egg laid over on its side. For years since then, I have tried time and again to stand an egg on end during the spring and fall equinoxes.
I even told a general science class about it the year I taught junior high science. A couple of the students went to the school kitchen for eggs. They proudly returned to announce that their eggs were pointing to heaven.
Mine laid down for a nap.
Until this past spring, I have never been able to stand an egg on end during the fall and spring equinoxes.
But this spring when the magic hour arrived, I grabbed a dozen eggs at 6 a.m. and paraded a few of them across the counter-top. My husband noticed what I was doing and added a few more. By the time my children were up, we had seven or eight eggs standing at attention.
With a dozen eggs we discovered that not all eggs are shaped geometrically equal. Some come into the world permanently off balance.
My son grabbed a camera and snapped a picture of my astonishment and joy that I had finally stood an egg on end.
A couple months later, I happened across a column my Marilyn Vos Savant. She supposedly has one of the highest IQs in the world. The question of the weeks was, “Did Christopher Columbus really stand an egg on end during the spring equinox?” She flat out denied it was possible, suggesting that he had gently broken the end of the egg to make it happen.
After disparaging the whole concept as a myth, a trick that Columbus had played on the people of his time, she said, “Consider how hard it is to stand a boiled egg on end.”
I don’t know about the boiled eggs, but raw ones work — if the hen laid one that was smooth and evenly rounded.
The fall equinox is this Saturday, the 23rd. The gravitational field that causes the phenomenon lasts more than one day. WE had some eggs standing as long a 36 hours. If you remember in time, begin trying Friday morning to see when is the earliest that you can balance an egg and then note when the eggs start falling over. It may be as late as Sunday afternoon.
I would be interested to know about your experiences in balancing eggs. Write and tell me: How many eggs you tested, how many would not stand, how long they stood. How many people tried. Some folks will have my luck and not be able to balance an egg, no matter which egg they use. I’m still working on an explanation for that fluke.
I’ll let you know what I hear.