Celebrating Fall

In Praise of Autumm

“Go sit upon the lofty hill,

and turn you eyes around

where waving woods and water wild,

do hymn an autumn sound.

The summer sun is faint on them--

the summer flowers depart--

Sit still—as all transformed to stone,

except your musing heart...”

                              Elizabeth Barrett Browning (The Autumn)

Before my mother died, I spent several autumn's in the mountains of North Carolina. About half-mile from her house was a hilltop where a house once stood, but only the chimney remained. From that spot, one could see Table Rock, Grandfather, Hawk's Bill and Mineral Springs mountains—a beautiful panorama in autumn. I would walk there every day with my little dog, Julie, and sit with my back to an ancient walnut tree to observe the colors climbing up the tree line. Julie contented herself with sniffing and digging in chipmunk holes. These were moments I treasured and that sustained me as I did the hard work of elder-care.

The Equinox is coming up on September 22. For those of us in the northern hemisphere, it will be our fall, or Vernal Equinox, and for those in the southern hemisphere, it is the beginning of spring. Equinox is from Latin, meaning 'equal nights', and marks the sun's crossing that imaginary equator in the sky above our own equator, when day and night are essentially the same, 12 hours, all over the world.

In China, the Moon Festival to acknowledge the summer's abundance will be celebrated with traditional Moon Cakes made from eggs, ground lotus seeds and golden syrup. In Japan, Higan-e, a Buddhist holiday, will be observed. It marks the day that the dead reach Nirvana. People will clean and decorate the graves of their ancestors. In the Greek pantheon, the Autumnal Equinox marked the time when the goddess Persephone, who emerged in the Spring, returns to the underworld to be with her husband Hades. It is a good time to enact rituals for protection and security, and to reflect on the successes and failures of the previous months.

You may be wondering why I am writing about such rituals. It is because we have grown out of touch with both our Earth, and with the human connection to the changing light and the changing seasons. As a sacred rite of passage, it is important for us to acknowledge our dependence on the Earth and its seasons. To give thanks for time present, time past and time to come. Having a personal ritual to mark the changing season will help us to bow to that which is greater by far than our limited understanding.

This year, autumn could not be more welcome. There is a nip in the air this morning as temperatures dip into the fifties, and one can almost hear a collective sigh here in the deep South. We've had a long hot summer. Between the heat and the West Nile Virus mosquitoes, it has been difficult to spend time outside. Let us celebrate autumn in whatever way feels best to us.

                                          In the spirit,

                                          Jane