Autumnal Equinox: Fall begins today

Callum Paton (Newsweek.com, 9/22/17); Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

This season, as things slow down from a fast and furious summer, is the time to meditate.

What did ancient stone working civilizations know about the heavens from ETs?

Sun rises over Stonehenge where Neo-Druids celebrate equinoxes, Amesbury, UK (Getty).

.

Baby Spring, Summer Teen, Adult Fall

Happy autumn! Today, September 22, marks the 2017 fall equinox in the United States and the start of autumn across the northern hemisphere.

At the same time in the southern hemisphere the vernal equinox marks the start of spring.

• WQ EDITORIAL NOTE: For most of time for most of the world, spring is the new beginning, the New Year in many Buddhist countries and Nowruz in Persia/Iran. The world's many Muslims (Al-Hijra) and tiny minority of Jews (Rosh Hashanah) are starting their spring as we go into fall.
  

In theory the orientation of the earth towards the sun on the day of the equinox means across the planet we will experience a day and a night of equal length -- equinox translates from Latin to mean "equal night."

• As fall equinox approaches, was Stonehenge used to predict astronomical events?

Islam: Taj Mahal, India, on New Year

As the Earth makes its orbit around the sun, the relative position of the northern and southern hemispheres change over the course of the year. This is the result of the changes to the planet’s rotational axis which sits at an angle.

 

The biannual equinoxes occur when the plane of the equator passes the center of the sun.

 

At that point, usually around September 20 and March 20 every year, the tilt of the Earth’s axis is, unlike its usual orientation, neither inclining away from or towards the sun. 

During the equinox the subsolar point, the place directly below the center of the sun, is at the equator. Over the rest of the year the subsolar point will move northward at the September equinox making days longer in the northern hemisphere and shorter in the southern hemisphere.

 

The seasons revolve on Earth from spring to summer, summer to fall, fall to winter.

.

The only points not to experience nearly 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night equally are the north and south poles where there will be a shift from permanent day to permanent night.

 

Because of discrepancies, 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night isn’t exactly what happens, but it is close. This is a result of differences in the sunrises across the world.

Sunrises occur when the crown of the sun rises over the eastern horizon. When that happens the center of the sun is still below the horizon. Also refractions in the sunlight mean people see the sunrise before they see the sun.

 

Across the planet, times of sunrise vary according to longitude and latitude, meaning the date when day and night are closest in length is different from place to place.

 

Modern and ancient cultures have different ways of celebrating the equinox. The Christian church replaced many early Pagan celebrations with Christianized versions.The Christian celebration closest to the fall equinox is Michaelmas, on September 29, and is mainly observed by the Catholic church.

Moon Festival

The Moon Festival is celebrated in Chinese and Vietnamese [Buddhist] communities all over the world on the day of the Harvest Moon, which is the full moon closest to the September equinox. More

• Islamic/Arabic New Year
• Muslim New Year: Muharram
• Jewish New Year: Rosh Hashanah
• Iranian/Persian New Year: Nowruz

A "Buddhist New Year"

Maitreya (Future Buddha) dressed as a Central Asian king high in the Himalayas, India

.

I go for guidance to the Buddha.

The New Year is generally known in Sri Lanka as Aluth Avurudda (Sinhalese අලුත් අවුරුද්ද), is a holiday in the Buddhist island-country off the tip of India that celebrates the traditional Lunar New Year of the Sinhalese people in Sri Lanka (who claim to be descendants of Northwest Indian frontier in Central Asia, where the Buddha was born). The timing of this New Year coincides with the new year celebrations of many traditional Buddhist calendars of South and Southeast Asia. The festival has close semblance to the Thai New year, Cambodian New Year, Laotian New Year, Burma's Thingyan, and the Odia New Year festival in formerly Buddhist India, as well as the Tamil New year and Bengali New Year on the margins of India. See more. It is generally celebrated on April 13 or 14 and traditionally begins at the sighting of the new moon. According to Sinhalese astrology, the New Year begins when the sun moves from Meena Rashiya (the House of Pisces) to Mesha Rashiya (the House of Aries). It also marks the end of the harvest and spring. More