Throughout history, humanity has constructed monuments to observe the sun's annual transit through the sky. The Autumn Equinox is a time to observe the change from longer to shorter days, it also comes at a time when most in the Northern Hemisphere are celebrating the harvest of Summer.
When Does the Equinox Happen?
The Autumn Equinox is one of two equinoxes we experience on Earth. The other is known as the vernal equinox, or March equinox, and occurs each year between March 19 and March 21, marking the start of spring.
Equinoxes take place because Earth is tilted in relation to the sun as it makes its revolutions around the star. The Earth has a fundamental tilt of 23.5 degrees, meaning that not all areas of the planet receive the same amount of light from the sun. This axial direction is fixed and points towards the North Star throughout the year, but it does not always point toward the sun.
For this reason, the Autumn Equinox occurs on a different day each year, typically landing between September 21st-24th. Because it takes the sun roughly 365.24 days each year to orbit the sun, not including leap years, the time of equinoxes is shifted back by nearly six hours each year.
What Does "Equinox" Mean?
The word equinox comes from Latin “aequi,” which means equal, and “nox,” or night. Generally, the Autumn Equinox observes the day when day and night are of equal length across the planet and marks either the first day of fall in the northern hemisphere or the first day of spring in the southern hemisphere.
These changes have been closely observed throughout history, the more closely the changes in the seasons can be predicted, the higher the chances of survival. Many religious ceremonies became associated with the movements of the celestial bodies such as the Chinese Harvest Moon Festival, Japanese Higan, Harvest Festivals of the British Isles, and Mabon, a holiday celebrated by pagans.
From Stonehenge, built to observe Summer Solstice, to Macchu Pichu's Intihuatana stone, which perfectly aligns with Spring and Fall Equinox, it is human nature to observe the sun and the seasonal changes its progression brings. Ultimately, it is a time of harvest, gratitude, and balance.
What Is the Spiritual Significance of the Autumn Equinox?
The Autumn Equinox has deep spiritual and cultural connections. In many traditions around the globe, it is viewed as a time of shedding the old, finding internal balance, resetting or reprioritizing, and preparing to go within during the darker season to come.
With that said, this time has its own distinct significance to different cultures and faiths.
The Cherokee Nation called it the Nut Moon as many trees and bushes began producing nuts. To the pagans, it is the second festival celebration that takes place during the Wheel of the Year and is a time to give thanks for the abundance of Mother Earth – both literally and spiritually. In the British Isles, they celebrate the equinox on the Sunday closest to the harvest moon. Called “Horkey” in some regions, it is the village-wide celebration of a successful gathering of crops to be shared by all.
Higan is a Buddhist holiday celebrated by Japanese denominations for seven days, three days before and after the Spring and Autumn Equinox. People who ordinarily worked in the fields had more respite time to evaluate their personal practices and to make a renewed effort to follow Buddhism. The seasons beginning to change is a symbol that Buddhists should change their lives in order to reach enlightenment.
In a more general sense, the Autumn Equinox is a time of reflecting upon the personal harvest reaped within one's life during the previous seasons of sowing and growth and often provides people with an opportunity to slow down after a busy activity-filled summer. It is often viewed as a time for bringing internal balance between our own light and dark aspects, as well as masculine and feminine attributes.
16 comments
-
Dr. Zerpersande, NSC
Xtians begin one of their Whining Periods at about this time. The Autumn equinox brings about murmurs of dissatisfaction with Halloween. This is soon followed by another Whining Period that most recently has seen the addition ‘Happy Holidays’ and Starbucks coffee cups added to the seasonal Whine List.
-
Rev. Dr. Father JJ
not that chrs chens are prone to hyperbole or the like but we're also heading into the season of the war on xmas...that annual bugaboo that they bring down from the attic and flail it about, stirring up the season of hate and discontent.
-
Dr. Zerpersande, NSC
I addressed the War of Xmas through the Happy Holiday and Starbucks cups. I’ve always said Merry Christmas p. Well, now I try to say Happy Holidays just to piss them off .
-
-
-
Douglas Robert Spindler
This is just capitalisms and advertising at it's finest. Companies have advertisers make new holidays or bring old ones back to life to make a buck. Then you've got the nutty Christians who object and cause controversy.
-
Nicholas J Page
Being from the UK / British Isles and having been on this planet for 64 years.I have never heard of Horkey.I don't know of any one celebrate Horkey.As the name has never been mentioned by anyone
-
Colleen McAllister
Me neither
-
Tom
https://www.definitions.net/definition/horkey
-
-
Both of the above are not only wrong but guilty of bigotry. Firstly, all, even most Christians are not as you say. Christians do not whine. We rejoice in the change of seasons. Many of us celebrate Halloween with the joy and goodness with which it was intended. Evil has no hold on us so we laugh in its face. Party time. As to Christmas there never has been a war on it. Most of us have continued to wish a Merry Christmas to everyone, believers or not. Do not mistake those loud mouthed nay sayers for real Christians. We rejoice in our faith. Blessings
Love your summation of the the previous two comments denigrating Christians as "bigotry" (rathee, religious bigotry). That is exactly what it is. I don't consider myself a Christian but many of the spiritual tenets to which I subscribe are also subacribed to by most Christians.
Ahh, but xtians, at least in my experience, ARE bigots and hypocrites. They can often otherwise be decent people until they get started up on the Jewish Zombie stuff.
Dr. Zerpersande I have no idea what you are trying to say about Zombies of any kind.You must know some odd "Christians".
Jewish Zombie is Jesus.
The cult of the Jewish Zombie.
remind me, who is it that every year starts the war on x mas? remind me, who is it that right now, as we speak, are out banning books they disprove of? remind me, who is it that wants to control every woman's body? remind me, who is it that is pounding the drum for the congress and/or scotus to decree the u.s. is a crs chen nation?
Yeah no, maybe not every chrs chen but enough so that the freedoms of non-chrs chens are at a very real risk and that is intolerable and unacceptable
and more than a bit of hate and anger in your attitude although I'm sure in your mind it telegraphs as love and acceptance.
may SATAN bless you
guilty of bigotry how? practically every year some chrs chen starts the media attack by claiming yet again that there is a war on xmas. are you denying this?
and by my pointing it out YOU accuse me of bigotry and hatred? it would seem that the reverse is truly the case with your comment, it is uncalled for and unfair but then, not really unexpected. so much for your love and compassion
Judging an entire group of people by the actions of a few. Bigotry.
obstinate or unreasonable attachment to a belief, opinion, or faction; in particular, prejudice against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular group.
What I deny is that there us a war on Christmas. That comes from a few boisterous idiots.
BTW refusing to use the word Christian does not make us go away. Does the very word frighten you?
your comments and replies are often antagonistic. note I said "every year SOME..." and then you claim I judged an entire group. please brush up on your reading skills.
I also get that you do not approve of my SATANISTIC beliefs and so you feel threatened and lash out. no reason to, SATANISTS are easy going and friendly, unlike so many chr....well, you know who, ;-)
of course there is no war on xmas and more than there is a homosexual agenda and yet...who is it that brings these things up all of the time?
my not using the word chs chn bothers you? why is that? why would it matter to you?
may SATAN bless you