March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is one of seven months that are 31 days long. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20th or 21st marks the astronomical beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and the beginning of autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, where September is the seasonal equivalent of the Northern Hemisphere for March.
March symbols: The birthstones of March are aquamarine and bloodstone. These stones symbolize courage. Its birth flower is the daffodil. The zodiac signs for the month of March are Pisces (until March 20) and Aries (March 21 onwards).
Historical Events for March, 1985
Day of Week 3rd » Arthur Scargill declares that the National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain) called National Union of Mineworkers national executive voted to end the longest-running industrial dispute in Great Britain without any peace deal over pit closures.
3rd » A 1985 Santiago earthquake or magnitude 8.3 earthquake struck the Valparaíso Region of Chile, killing 177 and leaving nearly a million people homeless.
Day of Week 4th » The Food and Drug Administration approves a blood test for AIDS infection, used since then for screening all blood donations in the United States.
Day of Week 7th » The song "We Are the World" receives its international release.
Day of Week 8th » A 1985 Beirut Car Bombing named failed assassination attempt on Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah in Beirut, Lebanon, kills at least 45 and injures 175 others.
Day of Week 13th » The Kenilworth Road riot takes place at an association football match at Kenilworth Road in Luton, England with disturbances before, during and after an F.A. Cup 6th Round tie between Luton Town F.C. and Millwall F.C..
Day of Week 15th » The first Internet domain name is registered (symbolics.com).
15th » Brazilian military dictatorship ends.
Day of Week 16th » Associated Press newsman Terry A. Anderson known as Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut. He is released on December 4, 1991.
Day of Week 17th » Serial killer Richard Ramirez, aka the "Night Stalker", commits the first two murders in his Los Angeles, California murder spree.
Day of Week 20th » Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
20th » Canadian paraplegic athlete and humanitarian Rick Hansen begins his circumnavigation of the globe in a wheelchair in the name of spinal cord injury medical research.
Day of Week 31st » The first WrestleMania, the biggest wrestling event from the WWE (then the WWF), takes place in Madison Square Garden in New York.