The Fall Equinox, or the first day of fall, or the September Equinox, or the more official Autumnal Equinox, whatever you want to call it, was on September 22nd this year. The date marks the start of fall in the Northern Hemisphere.
The term "equinox" has Latin roots of "equal" and "night", meaning that on the equinox, day and night are the same length. For this phenomenon, the Sun will cross the equator line in space or the "celestial equator". The equinox itself happens when the Sun's center passes through the line, going from north to south is the autumnal equinox and south to north is the vernal equinox. For the start of fall, days become shorter until the December solstice when days lengthen again.
A defining characteristic of fall is dropping temperatures from the summer months, 70 degrees Fahrenheit and under. Though in Wisconsin, it's always a toss-up, fall is supposed to have started and we're still having 80 degree days. You also can't have fall without the leaves changing color to various reds, oranges and yellows, eventually falling off the trees. And what's fall without Halloween and Thanksgiving where it's acceptable to stuff your face with delicious foods. There is also the end of Daylight Savings Time which will be at 2:00am on November 7th. You will set your clocks back an hour which will allow for an extra hour to get things done or sleep in. It's also the perfect opportunity for fuzzy sweaters, Friday night football games, carving pumpkins, eating pumpkin desserts and getting lost in corn mazes. The birds and butterflies start to journey south following the path of the Sun. Various plants and trees also begin to slow down to prepare for the cold months. You can expect to see aster and chrysanthemum flowers bloom.
In different cultures, historically, there are traditions based on the equinox. For instance, in ancient Mexico, the Mayans had built a giant pyramid called Chichen Itza. On each equinox, it seemed that you could see a snake made of light slither down the pyramid’s steps. For Mache Picchu in Peru, there is an ancient stone monument called Intihuatana, "Hitching Post of the Sun", which serves as a solar clock, marking the dates of each equinox and solstice.
