Anytime Traditions

Today is the official first day of fall, or the fall equinox. If you noticed, the amount of daylight and darkness were almost exactly the same - about 12 hours of each.

While we look forward to cooler temperatures and brightly colored leaves on the mountains, the equinox has historically been a day of celebration for many different peoples. Stonehenge is probably one of the best-known sites that incorporates a way to determine the equinoxes (spring and fall) and solstices (summer and winter) into the alignment of the stones. How or why exactly, no one knows for sure. Ireland has megalithic cairns that are placed to capture the sunlight on specific days each year, and the Mayans and Native Americans also built temples to display patterns of triangles of light during these times, as well as other stone structures.

The early Christian church, in an effort to shift pagan celebrations into religious observances, replaced the fall equinox with Michaelmas, the feast of the Archangel Michael. This was a kind of thanksgiving celebration, since it took place just after the harvest.

One tradition my family and I enjoy at this time of year is taking a drive through the nearby mountains for a look at the autumn leaves. There are spots where the brilliant reds and yellows transform entire valleys into a riot of color, so beautiful it almost aches. We also try and fit in the last warm-weather hike of the year, though with a 2-year-old we might have to modify that tradition a bit to meet the needs of short little legs.

What are your favorite autumn traditions?