fall equinox

It’s the first day of fall. My very favorite season.

September has always felt like a new beginning for me. Not sure why. Maybe because it’s the month of my birthday or because it’s the beginning of a new school year, just can’t say for sure ~what I do know though, it’s the time of year I am most at peace.

The first day of fall also called the fall equinox ~ when the day is balanced ~ meaning the day is equally divided in daylight and night.

There are several different cultures that celebrate the fall equinox, primarily in relation to the time of harvest. The celebrations continue from the first day of fall to November 1.

Fall Equinox Traditions:

Wine Moon ~ “The month of September also marks the ‘Wine Moon,’ the lunar cycle when grapes are harvested from the arbors, pressed and put away to become wine…The full moon closest to the Autumn Equinox is known as the ‘Harvest Moon,’ since farmers would also harvest their crops during the night with the light of the full moon to aid them.”

Teutonic tribes called the period from the fall equinox until Winter Night (OCT-15) by the name “Winter Finding.” Winter Night was the Norse new year.

“Symbols celebrating the season include various types of gourd and melons. Stalk can be tied together symbolizing the Harvest Lord and then set in a circle of gourds. A besom can be constructed to symbolize the polarity of male and female. The Harvest Lord is often symbolized by a straw man, whose sacrificial body is burned and its ashes scattered upon the earth. The Harvest Queen, or Kern Baby, is made from the last sheaf of the harvest and bundled by the reapers who proclaim, ‘We have the Kern!’ The sheaf is dressed in a white frock decorated with colorful ribbons depicting spring, and then hung upon a pole (a phallic fertility symbol). In Scotland, the last sheaf of harvest is called the Maiden, and must be cut by the youngest female in attendance.”