One of the things I like about the mid-Atlantic region is that we experience four distinct seasons. While I enjoy aspects of each one, autumn is by far my favorite. Crisp mornings with warm afternoons. An increase in energy levels as the dog days of summer fade away. Green leaves turning red, yellow and orange. Migrating geese honking overhead. Hot soups and spicy stews. Pumpkin pie and apple cobbler. Oh yes, I do indeed adore this season. Who’s with me on that opinion?

Harvest, Fall, or Autumn?

Harvest, from the Old Norse word haust, means “to gather or pluck.” Farmers would haust the crops during this season, and so it was known as Harvest. But when people left farms and moved to cities, their association with the harvest waned. At that point the use of the word fell to the wayside. Which brings us to the use of fall and autumn.

Autumn was initially the more popular choice. It wasn’t until 1755 that fall - in the manner that relates to the season - was added to Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language. Fall is now used most frequently in the United States and Canada. In 1816, John Pickering wrote the following in A Vocabulary, or Collection of Words Which Have Been Supposed to Be Peculiar to the United States of America: "In North America the season in which this [the fall of the leaf] takes place derives its name from that circumstance, and instead of autumn is universally called the fall." People in England and Australia, on the other hand, seem to prefer autumn. Although born and raised in North America, I tend to use autumn rather than fall. What’s your preference?

Meteorologists, for reasons I do not understand, consider September 1st the traditional start of autumn. For most of us, though, autumn begins with the Equinox, which occurred on September 22nd. On that day we had relatively equal hours of day and night. Since then the days grow shorter and shorter until the Winter Solstice begins on December 21st.

We would benefit from following the example of the trees. They shed their leaves. We should shed items, thoughts and feelings that linger unnecessarily and weigh us down. This is a particularly potent week for releasing because we just had a full moon on October 1st. A Full Moon - like autumn - is a time to release and let go of all that no longer serves us in order to welcome in the new. If you have burdens to shed, I highly recommend that you find time this weekend to allow for their release. Let them go. Start fresh. It’s Autumn!