“Autumn” and the Season of Fall
Fall Foliage in * Canberra, Australia Capital Territory, Australia * - April 2011
The Season of Fall
Foods: Pumpkins, Squashes, Acorns, Nuts, Grains, Apples, and Apple Cider.
Dates: (varies around the world) ranging from August 2nd to latest end of November in the Northern Hemisphere, March 1st to May 31st in the Southern Hemisphere.
Names for the Fall Equinox: Alban Elfed, Autumn Equinox, Autumnal Equinox, Cornucopia, Feast of Avilon, Festival of Dionysus, Harvest Home, Harvest Tide, Mabon, Night of the Hunter, Second Harvest Festival, Wine Harvest, Witch’s Thanksgiving, and the first day of autumn.
“Autumn” or “The Fall” is one of my favorite seasons in that it’s not too hot and it’s not too cold, it’s “Just right”. Usually. In 2011 I got to experience first hand this season at different times of the world, around the world, in Australia, England, Ireland, Oregon, and South Carolina. Usually stirring in August and becoming official in September in the “Northern” half of the world, and officiating in “March” in the Southern half of the planet. “Fall” happens after “Summer” and merges the planet into “Winter”. It is also a time when the climate shifts and most storms occur (next to Spring). It is the transitional season from summer into winter when darkness or “nighttime” comes sooner or earlier in the day. This is the time of the Fall equinox which marks the start of Fall (Northern - September 21st (this dates changes annually fluctuated from the 20th to the 24th), though first stirrings in Lughnasad on August 2nd). In East Asian solar terms, Autumn begins on August 8th and ends November 7th. In Ireland, “Met Éireann”, runs throughout the months of August, September, and October according to Celtic traditions. In Australia it runs from March 1st through May 31st; and in America it operates from the day after Labor Day through Thanksgiving. In the Northern hemisphere, Autumn consists of September, October, and November; while in the South, runs from March, April, and May.
The term “autumn” comes from the french word “autompne” that was changed to “autumnus” in Latin; appearing in print as early as the 12th century, and common by the 16th century. The term “fall” comes from the old Germanic languages, derived most likely from the Old English “fiæll” or “feallan” or Old Norse “fall”, as a descriptor of meaning “to fall from a height” like the “fall of the leaf” or the “fall of the year”. The season represents warm seasons transitioning to cold weather, and embraces the wrap-up of the harvest cycles in which it borrows its symbology from. These usually are depicted by color changed brown and earth tone leaves, pumpkins, bunded hay bales or stacks, fruits, vegetables, squashes, acorns, scarecrows, and corn. Much of the symbology borrows from the Fall Equinox symbology or that of the Canadian and American “Thanksgiving” harvest celebrations, Chinese Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, or the Jewish Sukkot holiday rooted in full-moon harvest festival of “tabernacles”. The mood for this season is a celebration of the harvest for the fruits of the earth and preparing for the imminent arrival of wintery weather.
It is the time for darkness to fall earlier, skies to turn grey, people turning inward physically and mentally, and a time for nesting, homes, and family. Autumn foliage is also a spectacular time for viewing foliage changes, especially the color changing of tree leaves, especially in Canada, North America, Eastern Asia, and Europe. It represents the time of changes in the sunlight intensity reaching the Earth’s surface, which causes many animals to go into hibernation or migration patterns, and certain plants to go dormant.
This is when the sun crosses the celestial equator and moves southward into the northern hemisphere, and is a time when many people believe the earth experiences 12 hours of day and night but in reality varies from various parts of the world and experiencing “exactly 12 hours of daylight” is considered a myth by most scientists and meteorologists as during the Equinox the length of night and day across the world is nearly but not entirely equal only because the day is slightly longer in places that are farther away from the equator causing the sun delays in rising and setting in said locations. As mentioned above, the Equinox changes from year to year from the 20th to the 24th in the Northern hemisphere (2008-2009: Sept 22, 2010-11: Sept 23; it will fall on the 24th in 2303 with a September 21st Equinox arriving again in 2092) as these are varying dates from the 365 day Gregorian calendar with a 366 leap year as well as the Equinoxes occuring 6 hours later every year with a day jump backwards each leap year. In the tropics, it arrives every 365.242199 days having its own shifts varying from influences of other planets in the tropical year based on the length of time the sun takes to return to the same position in the cycle of seasons as seen on earth. ~ Leaf McGowan
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* Canberra, Australia Capital Territory, Australia *
Bibliography and Recommended Reading:
- Answers.com ~ Autumn; [obtained: 2011]; www.answers.com.
- Eric Weisstein’s World of Astronomy: http://scienceworld.wolfram.com ~ Autumnal Equinox; [obtained: 2011]; http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/.
- Free Dictionary: thefreedictionary.com ~ Autumn; [obtained: 2011]; www.thefreedictionary.com.
- Khavrus, V.; Shelevytsky, I. ~ “Introduction to solar motion geometry on the basis of a simple model”; 2010.
- Religious Tolerance: religioustolerance.org ~ Fall equinox celebrations: The first day of Autumn which falls on SEP-20 to 23; [obtained: 2011]; http://www.religioustolerance.org/fall_equinox.htm.
- Time and Date: Timeanddate.com ~ The September Equinox Explained; [obtained: 2011] http://www.timeanddate.com.
- Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopia ~ Autumn & Season; [obtained: 2011; This page was last modified on 10 November 2011 at 20:29.]; http://en.wikipedia.org/.
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Current Mood: contemplative