This essay is a re-up from last autumn, and as such, is not paywalled.
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Monday, September 22 is the autumnal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, vernal equinox in the Southern. In the North, this day begins autumn -- best season of the year.
Social summer has already ended in the United States as school went back into session: mid-August to the day after Labor Day, depending on one’s location.
In France, social summer ended two weeks ago when teachers reported to their schools. Social summer ended in England on September 13, with the annual BBC Last Night of Proms concert at the Albert Hall.
Whenever social summer ends wherever you are, in the Northern Hemisphere astronomical summer ends Monday, with arrival of the autumnal equinox.
That day the Earth will be tilted neither away from nor toward the sun -- a condition that occurs twice each year.
At high noon at the equator, our beautiful yellow star will be exactly poised atop the dome of the sky. In the Northern Hemisphere, the sun will appear to move toward the south; in the Southern, appear to move north.
Days will grow shorter in the north, longer in the south. In the Southern Hemisphere, spring arrives; in the Northern, autumn. Cycles of the seasons will be on display in their glory.
Our ancestors were more aware of these transitions than we are today. Now artificial lighting governs our experiences, with artificial heating or cooling obviating outdoor conditions, with high-yield agriculture allowing us to eat whatever we want – strawberries in February! – any time of year.
High-yield agriculture detaches much of the harvest from autumnal timing. Though has not discouraged Oktoberfest, which begins tomorrow in Germany: a festival originally to celebrate bringing in the harvest, now to celebrate the gift of beer.
“Beer is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy” – Benjamin Franklin. Most historians believe Franklin actually called wine “proof God loves us and wants us to be happy.” Throw in single-malt Scotch and it’s a deal.
Though they detach us from nature, artificial lighting, warmed houses and high-yield agriculture are boons to life. The only thing wrong with these aspects of modernity is that every member of the human family does not yet have access to the benefits.
Everywhere on Earth at Monday’s equinox, except for the two poles, the sun will rise from due east and set into due west.
Because my office window faces east and I like to write early, I am cognizant of different rising-sun locations depending on time of year.
The ancients were keenly aware of the sun’s apparent changes in position in the sky, puzzled over this, attributed mystical significance. Today many people don’t even realize it happens.
As the equinox arrives, few in the industrial world will notice, because we are aloof from the rhythms of nature.
That is not necessarily bad – nature can be dangerous. We’re often not cognizant of the dangers because nature threatens us less with each passing generation.
Contrary to the hysteria on TV news, global deaths caused by hurricanes, storms, wildfires, floods, earthquakes, droughts and other natural disasters have declined markedly even as global population rises. Nature threatens us less — while we threaten each other more.
But something is lost when life is conducted indoors, distinct from nature. Multiply your age by .9. The product, if you are an American, is how many years you have spent indoors.
Even Americans in places with pleasing climes and appealing environments, such as Colorado or California, spend almost all their time indoors.
Autumn’s glories should draw us outside.
Plus: exposure to moderate sunshine has been shown to improve health outcomes. Take a walk even when it’s cloudy – the sun is still shining through the clouds, or it would be dark!
Living around the world helped make me aware of the differences in natural events. In years past my family lived in Pakistan, where weather was a keen concern because the climate was hot and power was unreliable to say the least. Later we lived in temperate Belgium.
In Pakistan, low latitude meant not much difference among the seasons, though monsoon rains provided a powerful natural cycle that is weak in the United States.
In Belgium, high latitude – much of Europe is north of Maine – meant dramatic differences in the daylight cycle.
December, the school bus would arrive for our children in darkness, return them in darkness. By June the sun would rise hours before what the clock called dawn, not set till nearly midnight. I gained appreciation of why solar cycles occupy such a role in European mythology.
The pumpkin on our stoop.
Monday the solar cycles announce themselves as Northern autumn debuts. Leaves are turning, weather is cooling, football is being played, pumpkins are on stoops, Christmas is coming. Placing a pumpkin on our stoop is an annual ritual that gives joy.
Here’s a utility that predicts when foliage peaks, by state and date.
Though every day should be lived to the fullest, days of autumn – September through December – in my view are best. Each year one lives two days that are not autumn for each one day that is.
Spring has its virtues, but autumn is the king of seasons – the leaves and cool breezes, football (the king of sports!) in full swing, a succession of lovely holidays: Halloween for children, Thanksgiving for adults, Christmas and other season-ending holidays for everyone.
And romance blossoms – because everyone looks better in sweaters.
Everyone looks better in sweaters!
Bonus: Hope And Glory Return. This year’s Proms included a performance by Katarina Barruk of Swedish Lapland. She sang in Ume Sami – it’s believed to have been the first Ume Sami performance in England.
The Sami are the heroes of the fun 2019 feature-length cartoon Klaus.
A Sami in Klaus.
Traditionally the Last Night of Proms concludes with a sing-along of Land of Hope and Glory. In 2023 the scolds got Land of Hope and Glory cancelled based on – brace yourself – fact-checking.
The cancellation of a beloved national song was another in the recent line of censorship extremism from England’s government. Cooler heads prevailed, and Land of Hope and Glory was back for this year’s finale.
British twits in a sing-along of Land of Hope and Glory on the Last Night of Proms in 2012:
It can be inspiring even though England has sinned, in the same way chants of “U.S.A! U.S.A!” are beautiful even though America has sinned.
Land of Hope and Glory has Brits declare of England, “Wider still and wider shall thy bounds be set,” lauding imperialism and all its wickedness.
In 2023 the BBC (state-controlled media in the same way as Russia’s RT) justified cancelling the anthem by prissily saying a fact-checker ruled the bounds of the United Kingdom are not in fact getting wider. This is like cancelling the Star Spangled Banner by saying there are not in fact rockets being fired at Fort McHenry.
At any rate English imperialism has ended. Why not just change the lyric?
Thousands of people singing together in praise of their nation is a ritual worth preserving. Albion has done many terrible things and also many great things: citizens should be proud, not contrite.
One suspects the real offense of Land of Hope and Glory is to have Brits carol of their isles, “God who made thee mighty/ make thee mightier yet.”
Numerous societies hold customary beliefs that heaven granted them special favor. Perhaps it’s declaring the actuality of God that contemporary tastemakers cannot brook.
Songs can be loving to one’s country and also cognizant of that country’s faults. Consider America the Beautiful, whose rarely sung second verse includes,
America! America! God mend thine every flaw.
Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law.
Never have we needed more the sentiment Confirm thy soul in self-control/ Thy liberty in law.
Brits, change the archaic lyric and keep belting out Land of Hope and Glory together.
The song is set to the melody of Pomp and Circumstance by Edward Elgar.
That tune, played thousands of times annually in the United States for graduations, was written by a composer who dropped out of school at age 15 and himself never walked across a graduation stage.
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Autumn is my favorite season also. October football in a non-domed stadium is the best!
“ Each year one lives two days that are not autumn for each one day that is.”
Wouldn’t that be three days?
Here in NoVa I’ve had the windows open and AC off since mid-August when the early autumnal weather arrived.