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WELCOME FALL!
"It's the first day of autumn!
A time of hot chocolatey mornings,
and toasty marshmallow evenings,
and, best of all, leaping into leaves!"
~ A. A. Milne
Fall is a magical time of year when the wild beauty of nature takes one last colorful breath before winter sets in. We look forward to the vibrant leaves falling around us on a windy day, the earlier sunsets when we can cozy up around a firepit outdoors with friends, wearing comfy sweaters again, buying just the right pumpkin for the front porch, picking out books from a used bookstore on a crisp Saturday morning, and so many more things that inspire and revive our spirit at this time of year.
To inspire you too, we've collected some of our favorite things about fall...so please enjoy the quotes, art and folklore below that highlight this beautiful season!
~The Months of Autumn~
SEPTEMBER
There are flowers enough
in the summertime,
More flowers than I can remember-
But none with the purple, gold, and red
That dye the flowers of September!
~ Mary Howitt
OCTOBER October glows on every cheek, October shines in every eye, While up the hill and dawn the dale Her crimson banners fly. ~ Elaine Goodale Eastman
NOVEMBER November comes And November goes, With the last red berries And the first white snows. With night coming early, And dawn coming late, And ice in the bucket And frost by the gate. The fires burn And the kettles sing, And earth seeks to rest Until the next spring. ~ Clyde Watson
"Smoke hangs like haze over harvested fields, The gold of stubble, the brown of turned earth And you walk under the red light of fall The scent of fallen apples, the dust of threshed grain The sharp, gentle chill of fall. Here as we move into the shadows of autumn The night that brings the morning of spring Come to us, Lord of Harvest Teach us to be thankful for the gifts you bring us ..."
~ Autumn Equinox Ritual
FALL FOLKLORE
Married in September’s golden glow, smooth and serene your life will go.
If the storms of September clear off warm, the storms of the following winter will be warm.
Much rain in October, much wind in December.
If trees show buds in November, the winter will last until May.
There is no better month in the year to cut wood than November.
According to an old superstition, if you catch a red or gold leaf falling from a tree during autumn, you'll be free of colds for the next year.
Another variation on this superstition is that for every leaf you catch, you will have a lucky month the following year.
And, once you have caught your leaf, keep it safely throughout the winter, until new green buds appear on the trees in the spring.
Scarecrows can protect fall crops, but they must be given hats to keep them cool in the sun, and once they're given clothes, a human can never wear those clothes again as it will bring them bad luck.
Click the video below
for an easy DIY fall luminary project to light those autumn evenings.
How silently they tumble down
And come to rest upon the ground
To lay a carpet, rich and rare,
Beneath the trees without a care,
Content to sleep, their work well done,
Colors gleaming in the sun.
At other times, they wildly fly
Until they nearly reach the sky.
Twisting, turning through the air
Till all the trees stand stark and bare.
Exhausted, drop to earth below
To wait, like children, for the snow.
~ Elsie N. Brady
Dancing of the autumn leaves
on a surface of a lake
is a dream we see
when we are awake.
~ Mehmet Murat Ildan
SONG FOR AUTUMN Don't you imagine the leaves dream now how comfortable it would be to touch the earth instead of the nothingness of the air and the endless freshets of wind? And don't you think the trees especially those with mossy hollows, are beginning to look for the birds that will come - six, a dozen - to sleep inside their bodies? And don't you hear the goldenrod whispering goodbye, the everlasting being crowned with the first tuffets of snow? The pond stiffens and the white field over which the fox runs so quickly brings out its long blue shadows. The wind wags its many tails. And in the evening, the piled firewood shifts a little, longing to be on its way.
~ Mary Oliver
PUMPKIN PIE SQUARES
Click on the video below
for a super easy fall pumpkin dessert!
“If a year was tucked inside of a clock,
then autumn would be the magic hour."
~ Victoria Erickson
"No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace
as I have seen in one autumnal face."
~ John Donne
The Full Moons
of AUTUMN
The Harvest Moon
September 29, 2023
This is the full moon closest to the autumn equinox. It rises within a half-hour of when the sun sets, and when farmers had no tractors, it was essential that they work by the light of this full moon to bring in the harvest.
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The Hunter's Moon
October 28, 2023
The Hunter's Moon was given its name because it was at this time that tribes gathered meat for the long winter ahead.
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The Beaver Moon
November 27, 2023
The full moon for November is named the Beaver Moon because this is the time that beavers become particularly active building their winter dams in preparation for the cold season. Since the beaver is mainly nocturnal, they can be seen working under the light of this full moon.
AUTUMN ART GALLERY
At the First Touch of Winter Summer Fades Away,
Valentine Cameron Prinsep, 1897
Girl on a Swing, Maxfield Parrish, 1905
Woman with Autumn Leaves,
Andrew Stovovich, 1994
Autumn, Simeon Solomon, 19th Century
Autumn, Levitan Sokolniki, 1879
Autumn, Alphonse Mucha, 1896
Autumn Angel, I. R. Outhwaite, 1916
The Bower Meadow, Dante Gabriel Rosetti, 1872
Wishing everyone
a magical fall!
Share what you love about this season in the comments section below
The Fairy Tale Magazine's contributing editor, Amanda Bergloff, writes modern fairy tales, folktales, and speculative fiction. Her work has appeared in various anthologies, including Frozen Fairy Tales, After the Happily Ever After, and Uncommon Pet Tales. Follow her on Twitter @AMANDABERGLOFF