What does autumn mean to you?

On 22nd September we reach the First Point of Libra, or the autumnal equinox. The sun is directly overhead at the Equator.  Day and night are of equal length.  From this day on until the spring equinox the hours of darkness will exceed those of daylight.

Autumn is a season of festivals. There is relief that the harvest is safely gathered in.  The trees are brightly coloured as the leaves begin to fall.  Red fruits and berries adorn the hedgerows.  Fungi grow in the fields. Mists swathe across the land.

I remember Keat’s poem To Autumn written in 1819.  

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness

 Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run

To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees

 And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more

And still more, later flowers for the bees

Until they think warm days will never cease

For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

What does autumn mean to you?

Bringing in the Harvest

Source: Wikipedia

Prize winning vegetables

Source:Wiipedia

Apple Orchards

Source: Wikipedia

Mushrooms

Source: Wikipedia

Chestnuts

Source: Wikipedia

Hedgerows and Rose Hips

Source: Wikipedia

Autumn Mists

Old Melrose, Scotland   © Copyright Walter Baxter and licensed for reuse Creative Commons.

Falling Leaves

Source: Wikipedia

What does autumn mean to you?

If you have enjoyed this article, you might also enjoy Autumn Colours which takes a look at the science behind the changinging colours.