temperate countries in the southern hemisphere)[5][6] use a definition based on Gregorian calendar months, with autumn being September, October, and November in the northern hemisphere,[7]
and March, April, and May in the southern hemisphere.
In the higher latitude countries in the Northern Hemisphere, autumn traditionally starts with the September equinox (21 to 24 September)[8] and ends with the winter solstice (21 or 22 December).[9] Popular culture in the United States associates Labor Day, the first Monday in September, as the end of summer and the start of autumn; certain summer traditions, such as wearing white, are discouraged after that date.[10] As daytime and nighttime temperatures decrease, trees change colour and then shed their leaves.[11] Persians celebrate the beginning of the autumn on Mehregan.
Under the traditional East Asian
Irish Calendar, which is based on ancient Gaelic traditions, autumn lasts throughout the months of August, September, and October, or possibly a few days later, depending on tradition. In the Irish language, September is known as Meán Fómhair ("middle of autumn") and October as Deireadh Fómhair ("end of autumn").[13][14] Late Roman Republic scholar Marcus Terentius Varro defined autumn as lasting from the third day before the Ides of Sextilis (August 11) to the fifth day before the Ides of November (November 9).[15]
Etymology
Autumnal scene with yellow, orange, and red leaves
The word autumn (/ˈɔːtəm/) is derived from Latin autumnus, archaic auctumnus, possibly from the ancient Etruscan root autu- and has within it connotations of the passing of the year.[16] Alternative etymologies include Proto-Indo-European*h₃ewǵ- ("cold") or *h₂sows- ("dry").[17]
After the Greek era, the word continued to be used as the
Medieval
period, there are rare examples of its use as early as the 12th century, but by the 16th century, it was in common use.
Before the 16th century,
better source needed
]
The alternative word fall for the season traces its origins to old
16th-century England, a contraction of Middle English expressions like "fall of the leaf" and "fall of the year". Compare the origin of spring from "spring of the leaf" and "spring of the year".[21]
During the 17th century, Englishmen began emigrating to the new North American colonies, and the settlers took the English language with them. While the term fall gradually became nearly obsolete in Britain, it became the more common term in North America.[22]
The name backend, a once common name for the season in Northern England, has today been largely replaced by the name autumn.[23]
Associations
Harvest
Association with the transition from warm to cold weather, and its related status as the season of the primary harvest, has dominated its themes and popular images. In Western cultures, personifications of autumn are usually pretty, well-fed females adorned with fruits, vegetables and grains that ripen at this time. Many cultures feature autumnal harvest festivals, often the most important on their calendars.
Still-extant echoes of these celebrations are found in the autumn
Moon festival
, and many others. The predominant mood of these autumnal celebrations is a gladness for the fruits of the earth mixed with a certain melancholy linked to the imminent arrival of harsh weather.
This view is presented in English poet John Keats' poem To Autumn, where he describes the season as a time of bounteous fecundity, a time of "mellow fruitfulness".
In North America, while most foods are harvested during the autumn, foods usually associated with the season include pumpkins (which are integral parts of both Thanksgiving and Halloween) and apples, which are used to make the seasonal beverage apple cider.
Melancholia
Autumn, especially in poetry, has often been associated with melancholia. The possibilities and opportunities of summer are gone, and the chill of winter is on the horizon. Skies turn grey, the amount of usable daylight drops rapidly, and many people turn inward, both physically and mentally.[24] It has been referred to as an unhealthy season.[25]
Similar examples may be found in Irish poet
W.B. Yeats' poem The Wild Swans at Coole where the maturing season that the poet observes symbolically represents his own ageing self. Like the natural world that he observes, he too has reached his prime and now must look forward to the inevitability of old age and death. French poet Paul Verlaine's "Chanson d'automne" ("Autumn Song") is likewise characterised by strong, painful feelings of sorrow. Keats' To Autumn, written in September 1819, echoes this sense of melancholic reflection but also emphasises the lush abundance of the season. The song "Autumn Leaves", based on the French song "Les Feuilles mortes", uses the melancholic atmosphere of the season and the end of summer as a metaphor for the mood of being separated from a loved one.[26]
Halloween
Autumn is associated with Halloween (influenced by Samhain, a Celtic autumn festival),[27] and with it a widespread marketing campaign that promotes it. The Celtic people also used this time to celebrate the harvest with a time of feasting. At the same time though, it was a celebration of death as well. Crops were harvested, livestock were butchered, and Winter was coming.[28]
Halloween, 31 October, is in autumn in the northern hemisphere. Television, film, book, costume, home decoration, and confectionery businesses use this time of year to promote products closely associated with such a holiday, with promotions going from late August or early September to 31 October, since their themes rapidly lose strength once the holiday ends, and advertising starts concentrating on Christmas.
Other associations
In some parts of the northern hemisphere, autumn has a strong association with the end of
start of a new school year, particularly for children in primary and secondary education. "Back to School
" advertising and preparations usually occurs in the weeks leading to the beginning of autumn.
Television stations and networks, particularly in North America, traditionally begin their regular seasons in their autumn, with new series and new episodes of existing series debuting mostly during late September or early October (series that debut outside the autumn season are usually known as
Since 1997, Autumn has been one of the top 100 names for girls in the United States.[30]
In Indian mythology, autumn is considered to be the preferred season for the goddess of learning Saraswati, who is also known by the name of "goddess of autumn" (Sharada).
Eastern Canada and New England are famous for their autumnal foliage,[33][34] and this attracts major tourism (worth billions of US dollars) for the regions.[35][36]
^Little, William et al.: The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1959 edition reprinted with corrections. The phrase "fall of the leaf" was first found in print in 1545 (volume I, page 670), and the usage of "fall" in this sense is noted as "Now rare in [British] English literary use." The phrase "spring of the year" first appeared in print in 1530 (volume II, p. 1983).
^D'Alembert, Jean Le Rond (2013) [1751]. Holtrop, Ellen (ed.). "Autumn". The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Michigan Publishing. Retrieved 31 March 2015.