Autumn/Fall/Harvest

The autumnal/fall equinox and the first day of autumn arrived on Saturday, September 23, 2023, at 02:50 A.M.EDT in the Northern Hemisphere, and coincidently so did the harvest in the fields around Merry Mount.

So when should one use Autumn, and when should one use Fall?

According to - https://www.dictionary.com/e/fall/:

The names autumn and fall are both commonly used. Autumn is thought to be slightly older, appearing in the 1300s, with the word fall first appearing around the 1500s in reference to leaves falling off trees. An even earlier name for the season is harvest.

The earliest known name for the season in English is harvest. It comes from the Old English word hærfest, of Germanic origin, perhaps with an underlying, ancient sense of “picking, plucking” (as in, picking fruits to harvest them).

Eventually, the use of harvest as a name for the season fell out of use, instead becoming used for the period when ripened crops are harvested—gathered for processing and winter storage.

The autumnal season often brings a sense of melancholy to our culture. I offer two examples.

Autumn

Autumn with a misty sky, with heart-breaking horizons,

With rapid sunsets, with pale dawns,

I watch the flow, like the water of a torrent,

Of your days made of melancholy.

My thoughts, carried off on wings of regret,

As if it were possible for our life to start over,

Travel while dreaming through the enchanted slopes

Where in former days my youth smiled!

I feel in the bright sunlight of a victorious memory

The slender rises blooming again in a bouquet

And I feel rising to my eyes tears that in my heart

I at age twenty had forgotten.

-Armand Silvestre, (English translation from the original French by Noa Culluy)

Fall

The falling leaves drift by the window The autumn leaves of red and gold I see your lips, the summer kisses The sun-burned hands I used to hold Since you went away the days grow long And soon I'll hear old winter's song But I miss you most of all my darling When autumn leaves start to fall

Listen to Nat King Cole: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gnp58oepHUQ

Harvest

Apples, pears, tomatoes, and more...

CPW