Autumn starts on Tuesday, September 22, 2020, specifically at 3:31 PM (Spanish peninsular time) in the Northern Hemisphere.
Why does fall start at a certain time each year? What’s more, why does the date of the seasons change annually?
Fall 2020 will last 89 days and 20 hours and begins as spring arrives in the southern hemisphere. The fact that the date of the seasons changes every year is given by the moment in which the Earth passes through a certain position in its orbit around the Sun.
In the case of autumn, this position is when the center of the Sun seen from Earth crosses the celestial equator in its apparent southward movement. That is why on this day the duration of day and night is practically the same, hence this phenomenon is also known as the autumn equinox.
Regarding the dates , their variation is due to the shape of the sequence of the years according to the calendar because, as we will remember, we have leap years and years that are not, with the duration of each orbit of the Earth around the Sun ( tropic year).
After welcoming the first day of autumn, the trees prepare for winter. How do they do that?
Tree leaves begin to change color, but only on some trees. As we already know, there are two types of trees, deciduous and evergreen. The leaves of deciduous trees change color, but evergreens do not. During the fall, the days are shorter, so the trees do not get enough of the sun to photosynthesize. The leaves begin to lose chlorophyll and with it their green color: yellow and orange colors appear. When stored food runs out, the leaf dies, turns brown, and falls off the tree. Basically the leaves dry up and fall off. This is accompanied by a general drop in temperatures. We have reached the most melancholic season and also the one that represents the harvest season.
Autumn is the ideal season to enjoy time in nature: it is neither too cold nor too hot and the colors of this season give us spectacular landscapes. And this season helps smooth the transition to shorter days and colder nights.
Curiosities
Did you know that in Japan, both the spring and autumn equinoxes are national holidays?
In Neopaganism, the spring and autumn equinoxes are called Ostara and Mabon, respectively, although these names are of modern origin and do not correspond to any ancient festival.
We already discussed it at the beginning: Leaves change color because they need a rest, a winter of rest, after a summer of photosynthesis (using sunlight to convert water and carbon dioxide into sugar).
Those responsible for autumn colors: pigments are responsible for the different colors of leaves in autumn: chlorophyll for green; Carotenoid for yellow, orange and brown. Anthocyanins for red. Did you know that some of these chemicals are the same ones that give carrots (beta carotenes) and egg yolks (luteins) their colors?
People born in the fall live longer
This concluded a study published in 2011 in The Journal of Aging Research that found that babies born during the fall months were more likely to live to 100 years of age than those born during the rest of the year.
Autumn in mythology
In Greek mythology , autumn began when Persephone was kidnapped by Hades to be the queen of the underworld. Due to this dire situation, Persephone’s mother, Demeter (the goddess of the harvest), caused the death of all crops on Earth until her daughter was allowed to return, thus marking the beginning of spring.
