“Summertime and the Living is Easy” — Meaning and Background
Ready for sweater weather? Read on for surprising facts about fall, aka apple-picking and leaf-peeping season.
Fall comes around every year, and by now, you know the drill: The leaves change, the temperatures drop and pumpkin spice is everywhere. (Your coffee, your candles, your cereal—nowhere is safe.) But there are plenty of facts about fall that may surprise even the biggest autumn fans. For instance, have you ever wondered what actually happens on the first day of fall, or why we call the season “fall” in the first place?
We’re sharing fascinating facts about fall that cover everything from the season’s history and the science behind its biggest changes to the traditions and little-known tidbits that come along with it. Consider this your chance to amp up your knowledge while finding a few more reasons to celebrate the season. And if fall isn’t already your favorite? Give it a few facts. It may win you over yet.
Read on to learn something new about sweater season.
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Fall used to be called “harvest”
Before fall was considered an excuse to order something cinnamon-flavored, it had a far more practical name: harvest. In medieval England, that was simply what people called the season when crops were gathered and stored before winter. And it was a pretty important time, since making it through the colder months depended on what you could bring in from the fields.
As life gradually shifted away from farms and more people moved into towns, harvest became associated with the actual gathering of crops rather than the season itself. By the 1600s, the words autumn and fall—the latter inspired by the very literal “fall of the leaf”—were taking its place. Turns out, even the seasons can get a rebrand.
Fall doesn’t always start on Sept. 22
Sept. 22 may be the date most associated with the first day of fall, but autumn doesn’t follow a perfectly fixed schedule. The fall equinox usually arrives on Sept. 22 or 23, though Sept. 21 is possible too. That last happened in 1931 and will happen again in 2092. And if you’re waiting for fall to begin on Sept. 24, you’re out of luck—that won’t happen again until 2303.
