Giving Thanks Together
Celebrating the Autumnal Equinox
|by Molly Westerman
This article kicks off a series on the solstices
and equinoxes: four annual opportunities to
celebrate and learn as a family.
I find myself ever more deeply aware of and affected by seasonal changes. Light and darkness.
Heat and—especially in my adopted state of
Minnesota—cold. Living farther north than ever
before, I feel the changing daylight hours and
temperatures in my bones.
From my first day of preschool until my early
30s, I observed the academic calendar’s rhythms
and rituals. Now I share my days with a home
schooling eight-year-old and his two-year-old
sibling. In response to these changes in our
family rhythm as well as the drama of northern
winters, my family began celebrating the solstices
and equinoxes a couple years ago. We also integrate these annual events into our home schooling life, taking them up on their rich invitation to
explore the seasons, ecology, and cultural traditions together.
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The autumnal equinox (like the vernal or spring
equinox) is less showy than the summer and
winter solstices. It is less intense, less extreme, a
time of balance. Imagining ways to observe these
quieter moments can be a challenge: after all,
we’re accustomed to holidays that are aggressively advertised and loaded with expensive expectations. And yet, considered a bit more closely, the
autumnal equinox proves rich with meaning.
a time of balance + plenty
On the autumnal equinox, the sun is at zenith (it
appears to be highest in our sky) over the Earth’s
equator. The Earth’s axis tilts neither toward nor
away from our sun, and the sun’s center is directly over the equator. After the northern hemisphere’s autumnal equinox, the subsolar point—
the point on our planet’s surface that’s directly
underneath the sun—travels into the southern
hemisphere, gradually casting us into shorter and
cooler days.
Our autumnal equinox occurs around September
22nd each year; the southern hemisphere’s takes
place around March 20th (our spring equinox).
On both equinoxes—all over the Earth—we
experience roughly equal daytime and nighttime
hours.
That all happens, of course, whether we take note
of it or not. Beyond those basics, the autumnal
equinox can be about scientific curiosity, cultural
and family traditions, spirituality, or a mix of the
three. Taking any of those approaches, the equinox can help us consider our place as humans in
a vast, amazing world.
In many geographic locations and historical
periods, harvest celebrations have been observed
right around the equinox. Fall festivals and personal observances of the equinox often involve
these themes: