Hallows Eve (approaching)
Since ancient times, gathering the harvest has been vitally important
It's the Great Pumpkin,
Charlie Brown
“Ohhhh, You didn’t tell me you were going to KILL it!”
Harvesting events in the agricultural season is where whole communities would turn out to bring the harvest home. A harvest supper was held once the last of the harvest was brought back to the farm. For us, we appreciate the gathering of folks to break bread, share some soup and gather around a fire.
Our annual event (since moving into our home) has been a Pumpkin Carving party. Age never matters, all ages are welcome. We love the gathering of people, the celebration of food, the flame of the outdoor fire for ‘smores.
The music, the laughter, the joy of communing with one another - this is what the harvest season means to us.
The many elements of autumn either intrinsically deliver happiness or trigger memories of past joy from which we can keep taking bites, as from a freshly baked apple pie.
While we celebrate the seasonal joys, we should remind ourselves that the sharing of the harvest blazes a trail t into the depths of the beautiful forest of wisdom and meaning.
Those first days every year when it’s chilly enough to need a sweater or hoodie are a revelation. “Sweater Weather” is a joyful feeling chill on your skin and in our lungs acting as both a respite and a stimulant. The oppression of summer heat is overthrown by the autumnal rebels, layered on in the form of jumpers, vests, scarves and hats.
The emotions we feel in autumn seem more complex as well. There are many fun and enjoyable activities; it’s a season designed for communing with friends, family and nature. But there’s also something melancholy about the season.
As the seasonal merry-go-round turns, hop on every stop. I try to align my mental and physical activity to the season I’m in. It’s an opportunity to commune with the change in nature, embrace its reminders. Celebrate the holidays, take in their meanings, enjoy the spoils of whatever time of the year you find yourself in.
“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth,” Henry David Thoreau advised in Walden, his practical meditation on living seasonally.
In winter, go deep inside yourself and get snug and comfortable there. In spring, let yourself break out of the cocoon because we’ve endured the darkness and need to let in the light. In summer, get outside, be free and chase happiness like a puppy after its own tail.
And in fall, welcome an inward and grateful focus as the days get chillier, darker and more meaningful.
