Fall Vibes

As humans, we crave seasonal cycles. Even in our current “culture of constancy”, where everything is available all the time, people want Pumpkin Spice in the Fall.

This year, the Fall Equinox is on Friday, September 22, 2023, at 11:49 PM Pacific Time. I’m obsessed with the idea that the Fall Equinox is the midpoint — the height of Fall, not the beginning, as some would say.

The Summer Solstice, otherwise known as Midsummer’s Day, indicates to us that the Solstices and Equinoxes are all mid-season points — the peaks of the season. If you’re looking for the beginning, look back to the Cross-Quarter days, where you will see the first inklings of the seasons.

Our next cross-quarter day is on Oct 31, 2023 and we’ll celebrate it as Halloween. The traditional Gaelic festival of Samhain (pronounced saa·win) on the same day this year celebrates the transition to winter. In Mexico, Day of the Dead marks this time and is celebrated on November 2-3.

But we aren’t there yet. Now we are in the throes of Fall, leaves, and chill in the air, and we can enjoy it, knowing that winter is coming in six weeks, or at least the first stirrings of it.

Right now, kids are back in school, apples are ripe, we added a darker tablecloth to the dining table. We’re starting to consider what “to be” for Halloween. I harvested the pears off our Red Bartlett pear tree, and for three days straight, I fired up the dehydrator and preserved their summer goodness for winter lunches and snacks.

Time goes faster now than it did before. More awareness of seasonal shifts is one way I can differentiate the changing moments and feel time passing more slowly and deliberately. Seasonal awareness is also a way to cultivate a meaningful collection of traditions to look forward to every year.

It’s little things that add up to Fall —dried pears, red tablecloths — and if we don’t remember that the equinox is really the midpoint, it’s easy to miss it, sliding into Halloween and the holidays wondering what the hell happened to the year — again.