As you read this, it is now Fall. The Autumn Equinox began at 4:44 PDT.
The autumnal equinox falls on different dates each year, usually Sept. 22, like this year, or Sept. 23; but in 1931, the equinox happened on Sept. 24. The reason: The Gregorian calendar doesn't match up perfectly with the position of Earth in its orbit around the sun.
As Earth orbits the sun, it revolves around its axis at a 23.5-degree angle so that it is pointed directly toward the sun at the summer solstice, directly away from the sun during the winter solstice, and at a right angle with the sun on the equinoxes; that right angle means the sun shines about equal amounts of light across the Northern Hemisphere on the equinoxes.
Our ancestors built the first observatories to track the sun’s progress. One example is at Machu Picchu in Peru, where the Intihuatana stone, shown here, has been shown to be a precise indicator of the date of the two equinoxes and other significant celestial periods. The word Intihuatana, by the way, literally means tying the sun. Although this is not my photo, I was at that exact site a few years ago. The detail work on the stone was damaged by some agency filming a beer commercial!
You know it's Fall because the papers report the Equinox is upon us; it's on your calendar and mentioned frequently by the weather people on television. But "you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows". And one of the ways you know Fall is coming is fall foliage flying about in sudden surprising surges of wind. e e cummings graphically describes:
what if a much of a which of a wind
gives the truth to summer's lie;
bloodies with dizzying leaves the sun
and yanks immortal stars awry?
In many parts of the country the changing of the foliage from summer green to autumn's spectacular colors signals the seasonal change. In our part of coastal California many trees drop their leaves with only a slight browning. One exception is our Liquidambar which looks in the Fall as though it belonged in Maine.
Other signs I notice are the winter bulb flowers poking out of the ground, a subtle change in the intensity of late afternoon light, summer vegetables reaching completion and being harvested, and on a personal level an urgent sense that things need to be completed and made secure for the approaching winter. Meal planning turns from salads to stews. And the woodpile must be covered with tarps.
I note that Louie the cat is oblivious to all this. He still wants to go out at he same clock time, in the [now] dark morning, which notion is disabused quickly due to the wildlife around here.
So what other signs do you observe that foretells the change of season? I realize that in places like Arizona the weather is finally reaching perfection. Might be snowing already in the far north. The floor is open.
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