Fall in New England is famous for its beauty. People come here from all over the country to go "leaf-peeping" in the countryside. In Deerfield we're ready for them with scented candles, artisanal baked goods, microbrews, maple candy, fossils, crafts, and restaurants.
But when does Fall begin? On September 22 I heard a radio host announcing the "official" beginning of Fall, as that day is the autumnal equinox — the time when the Earth's tilted axis is side-on to the Sun, so that all over the world the days and nights are of equal length. In the northern hemisphere the nights are going to get longer, in the southern hemisphere they're going to get shorter, but in late September we all have the same amount of daylight. It's the start of astronomical autumn, which lasts until the winter solstice in late December.
However, that's only one definition. Other dates for the start of autumn are the beginning of the grain harvest season, which in pre-modern Europe was August 1; or Labor Day, when summer vacation ends and well-dressed people switch to winter styles. In warm climates, where Fall is a fairly abstract concept anyway, the season is simply the months of September through November.
For me, Fall in New England starts with the Day of Gold, which isn't marked on any calendar. It's the day that the ferns and the birch trees on my land have lost their summer green, but haven't yet withered to brown. For just a little while, everything is golden wherever I look. Then I know that Fall has really arrived.
Nice, and well-said.
Posted by: D | 10/14/2021 at 09:22 PM