Perfect Balance- Autumn Equinox By Shyanna Shea
With every passing year, the seasons change: Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. An astronomical event occurs to declare the start of each season every year. Winter has the Winter Solstice with the longest night of the year, while the first day of Summer is the longest day of the year. For Spring and Fall, however, practice a near-perfect balance of the day, 12 hours of day, and 12 hours of night. With the leaves starting to turn their brilliant shades of red, orange, and yellow, the first day of Autumn is just around the corner.
Monday, September 22nd of this year (2025) is the start of not just this fascinating astronomical event, but also various traditions held by many cultures throughout the world to celebrate the start of the new season. The word “equinox” derives from the Latin word “aequinoctium,” which translates to “equal night.” This also marks the start of the days becoming shorter, leading to the Winter solstice.
The Autumn Equinox carries the traditions of many each year, associated with the start of harvests and grand feasts. Some traditions are like that of Thanksgiving, where the remains of crops on the fields are given to a goose to fatten it, only for it then to be turned into a meal in celebration. Another interesting tradition is the wide use of ginger in a feast, from bread to soup.
A few students were asked about their own Autumn traditions, many of their answers being Thanksgiving and Halloween, from pumpkin carving to turkey eating. There are plenty of other traditions that surround Autumn and the Autumn Equinox. Alex Brewer, for example, simply enjoys just spending time outside, while Debbie Barron enjoys going to festivals surrounding the season.
The Autumn Equinox isn’t just known as such. It’s also known as Mabon, which means Witch’s Thanksgiving. This pagan celebration includes spending time with loved ones, creating altars, and enjoying foods that would be harvested. However, there are far more traditions and stories to the Autumn Equinox than this.
Within Greek mythology, the Autumn Equinox means much more than just the start of the harvest season, but the story of a kidnapped child and the start of Winter. One of the many Greek myths has to do with the Goddess of Harvest, Demeter. She can control the weather, bringing warm, sunny days to mortals. Her daughter, Persephone is suddenly abducted by Hades, the God of the Underworld to make her his wife. This leads Demeter to fall into a deep depression, the earth turning cold and bitter. As the plant life withers and dies without the sun, Zeus and Hades come to an agreement to prevent the death of the planet, letting Persephone back to her mother for half of the year annually. This is used to explain the 4 seasons; Demeter brings life to the earth with the warm sun when her daughter is with her, but without, her depression brings Fall and eventually Winter as people today know it.
A question that may have been brought to someone’s mind is ”does this phenomenon happen to just Earth?” And the answer is no. Every planet has an equinox, with one exception: Mercury. While every planet is in an equinox twice an orbit, Mercury is placed perfectly to always be in equinox. While the other planets all experience this phenomenon, not all of them are nearly as frequent as Earth’s. Mars’ equinoxes are very similar to Earth’s, though Mars’ orbit lasts two years instead of just one, which means there’s one every year. Saturn, however, finishes its orbit every 30 years, meaning it only has an equinox every 15 years. Saturn has the longest orbital period, with a grand total of 165 years to finish orbiting the sun, meaning it only experiences an equinox every 82.5 years.
Despite everything that the planet might go through, every year it is still able to hold the perfect balance of the equinoxes. It’s quite inspiring, knowing that when things may be at its lows, one can always find a perfect balance.
