Okay, raise your hand if you LOVE autumn weather too! I can't but smile whenever I think of the glorious fall colors that will be here soon and the crisp, not cold but not hot, weather too. I know some rain falls for awhile, but all-in-all it is a glorious time of the year and lasts only a little while.
First, about the name Autumn.
The word
autumn comes from the Old French word
autompne (
automne in modern French), and was later normalized to the original Latin word
autumnus. There are rare examples of its use as early as the 12th century, but it became common by the 16th century.
Before the 16th century,
harvest was the term usually used to refer to the season, as it is common in other West Germanic languages to this day . . . the word
harvest lost its reference to the time of year and came to refer only to the actual activity of reaping, and
autumn, as well as
fall, began to replace it as a reference to the season.
The alternative word
fall for the season traces its origins to old
Germanic languages. The word meaning "to fall from a height". The term came to denote the season
in
16th century England, a contraction of
Middle English expressions like "fall of the leaf" and "fall of the year". During the 17th century, English emigration to the British colonies in North America was at its peak, and the new settlers took the English language with them. While the term
fall gradually became obsolete in Britain, it became the more common term in North America.
Autumn marks the transition from
summer into
winter, in September (
Northern Hemisphere) or March (
Southern Hemisphere) when the arrival of
night becomes noticeably earlier. According to United States tradition autumn runs from the day after
Labor Day (i.e. the Tuesday following the first Monday of September) through
Thanksgiving (i.e. the fourth Thursday in November), after which the
holiday season that demarcates the unofficial beginning of winter begins.
This website says about tree colors: During the growing season, chlorophyll is continually being produced
and broken down and leaves appear green. As night length increases in the
autumn, chlorophyll production slows down and then stops and eventually all the
chlorophyll is destroyed. The carotenoids and anthocyanins that are present in
the leaf are then unmasked and show their colors.
Certain colors are characteristic of particular species. Oaks turn
red, brown, or russet; hickories, golden bronze; aspen and yellow-poplar,
golden yellow; dogwood, purplish red; beech, light tan; and sourwood and black
tupelo, crimson. Maples differ species by species-red maple turns brilliant
scarlet; sugar maple, orange-red; and black maple, glowing yellow. Striped
maple becomes almost colorless. Leaves of some species such as the elms simply
shrivel up and fall, exhibiting little color other than drab brown.
The timing of the color change also varies by species. Sourwood in
southern forests can become vividly colorful in late summer while all other
species are still vigorously green. Oaks put on their colors long after other
species have already shed their leaves. These differences in timing among
species seem to be genetically inherited, for a particular species at the same
latitude will show the same coloration in the cool temperatures of high
mountain elevations at about the same time as it does in warmer lowlands. Temperature and moisture in the ground seem to influence the change of colors.
In early autumn, in response to the shortening days and declining
intensity of sunlight, leaves begin the processes leading up to their fall. The
veins that carry fluids into and out of the leaf gradually close off as a layer
of cells forms at the base of each leaf, then the leaf is ready to fall.
complete story here
Family Friend says: Fruits and nuts are harvested, the days become shorter, and animals prepare for winter. After that date the
nights gradually become longer than the days.
Animals store up as much food as they can before winter comes.
Squirrels collect nuts, mice collect seeds, and jays collect acorns.
Animals eat as much as they can in autumn to store up fat reserves in
their body before winter.
Insects are very active in summer, but
they become sluggish during the cooler fall months. Some of the strong
fliers, such as butterflies and dragonflies will migrate to warmer
climates. Most insects cannot or do not fly to warmer climates. They
must find ways of surviving winter where they are. Ladybugs hide in
cracks of trees; butterflies will find a woodshed or attic to hide in.
Crickets and grasshoppers die before winter comes, but they have already
laid their eggs, which will grow into new insects in the spring. Birds leave because of the lack of food and migrate to where there is food for them.
Interesting Tidbits!
Each autumn there is a day with twelve hours of daylight and twelve
hours of darkness. This happens on September 22 or 23 in the Northern
Hemisphere. It is called the
autumn equinox.
Wiki Answers says this about
autumn equinox: For people in the north, the sun is moving downward toward the equator
and stays below the equator during the autumn and winter seasons. As the
sun moves higher for people in the north, it is moving downward for
people in the south. At the equinox in March, spring begins in the north
and autumn begins for the south!
Wikipedia has wonderful information available!
I cannot post it all here. Please
go read more here.
Autumn is associated with the
Halloween season (influenced by
Samhain, a Celtic autumn festival), and with it a widespread marketing campaign that promotes it, in the
US. The television, film, book, costume, home decoration, and
confectionery industries use this time of year to promote products
closely associated with such a holiday, with promotions going from early
September to 31 October, since their themes rapidly lose strength once
the holiday ends, and advertising starts concentrating on Christmas.
Many cultures feature autumnal
harvest festivals, often the most important on their calendars. There are also the many North American Indian festivals tied to harvest
of autumnally ripe foods gathered in the wild, the Chinese Mid-Autumn or
Moon festival,
and many others. The predominant mood of these autumnal celebrations is
a gladness for the fruits of the earth mixed with a certain melancholy
linked to the imminent arrival of harsh weather.
Autumn has a strong association with
American football, as the regular season begins during September and ends with playoff competition in December or January, in the winter season.
Canadian football,
on the other hand, begins in the summer, but extends its season through
the autumn season and into November. A popular activity for high
schools in the US is attending Friday night football games in Autumn,
while Sunday afternoons are reserved for the professional game,
particularly the
National Football League, and Saturdays are traditionally used for
college football. The sport is generally geared around fall weather and playing in cold elements.
Autumn also has strong ties to post-season
baseball,
with the autumnal equinox occurring with about a week left in the
regular season, depending on scheduling. Autumn baseball often signifies
excitement in the air for fans who root for teams on the cusp of making
the post-season, as well as those that made it. The
World Series, baseball's championship series which determines the champion of
Major League Baseball
for that season, is held in mid-to-late October (sometimes spilling
over into November to accommodate longer series) and is nicknamed the
"Fall Classic".
Television stations and networks, particularly in North America,
traditionally begin their regular seasons in autumn, with new series and
new episodes of existing series debuting mostly during late September
(series that debut outside the fall season are usually known as
midseason replacements). A sweeps period takes place in November to measure
Nielsen Ratings.
Autumn, particularly in most parts of the US, also has a strong association with the
start of a new school year, particularly for children in primary and secondary education. "
Back to School" advertising and preparations usually occurs in the weeks leading to the start of the fall season.
Since 1997, Autumn has been one of the top 100
names for girls in the US.
In Indian mythology, autumn is considered to be the preferred season for the goddess of learning
Saraswati, who is also known by the name of "goddess of autumn" (Sharada).
