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Autumn, also known as fall (in North American English), is one of the four temperate on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March (Southern Hemisphere). Autumn is the season when the duration of daytime becomes noticeably shorter and the temperature cools considerably. Day length decreases and night length increases as the season progresses until the winter solstice in December (Northern Hemisphere) and June (Southern Hemisphere). One of its main features in temperate climates is the striking change in colour of the leaves of deciduous trees as they prepare to shed.
In the higher latitude countries in the Northern Hemisphere, autumn traditionally starts with the September equinox (21 to 24 September) and ends with the winter solstice (21 or 22 December). In the United States, Labor Day (the first Monday in September) is often informally treated as the end of summer and start of autumn; certain summer traditions, such as wearing white, may be frowned upon after that date. As daytime and nighttime temperatures decrease, trees change colour and then shed their leaves. Iranians celebrate the beginning of the autumn on (). Indians celebrate the Vijayadashami and Diwali festivals during the autumn.
Under the traditional East Asian solar term system, autumn starts on or around 8 August and ends on or about 7 November. In Ireland, the autumn months according to the national meteorological service are September, October, and November. However, according to the Irish Calendar, which is based on ancient Gaelic Ireland 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'). Late Roman Republic scholar Marcus Terentius Varro defined autumn as lasting from the third day before the Ides of Sextilis (11 August) to the fifth day before the Ides of November (9 November).
After the Greek era, the word continued to be used as the Old French word autompne (automne in modern French) or autumpne in Middle English,Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition, entry at automn. and was later normalised to the original Latin. In 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, harvest was the term usually used to refer to the season, as it is common in other West Germanic languages to this day (cf. Dutch herfst, German Herbst, and Scots language hairst). However, as more people gradually moved from working the land to living in towns, the word harvest lost its reference to the time of year and came to refer only to the actual activity of reaping, and autumn, as well as fall, began to replace it as a reference to the season.
The alternative word fall for the season traces its origins to old Germanic languages. The exact derivation is unclear, with the Old English fiæll or feallan and the Old Norse fall all being possible candidates. However, these words all have the meaning 'to fall from a height' and are clearly derived either from a common root or from each other. The term came to denote the season in 16th-century England, a contraction of Middle English expressions like "Abscission" and "fall of the year". Compare the origin of spring from "spring of the leaf" and "spring of the year".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).
During the 17th century, English settlers began emigrating to the new North American colonies, and 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.
The name backend, a once common name for the season in Northern England, has today been largely replaced by the name autumn.
Still-extant echoes of these celebrations are found in the autumn Thanksgiving holiday of the United States and Canada, and the Jewish Sukkot holiday with its roots as a full-moon harvest festival of "tabernacles" (living in outdoor huts around the time of harvest). There are also the many festivals celebrated by Indigenous peoples of the Americas tied to the harvest of ripe foods gathered in the wild, the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the 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's 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.
Similar examples may be found in Irish poet Yeats's 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 "" ('Autumn Song') is likewise characterised by strong, painful feelings of sorrow. Keats's 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 "" (), 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.
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.
In the southern hemisphere Halloween takes place in Spring.
Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated in Canada, in the United States, in some of the Caribbean, and in Liberia. Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada, on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States (where it is commonly regarded as the start of the Christmas and holiday season), and around the same part of the year in other places. Similarly named festival holidays occur in Germany and Japan.
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 mid-season replacements). A sweeps period takes place in November to measure Nielsen Ratings.
American football is played almost exclusively in the autumn months; at the high school level, seasons run from late August through early November, with some playoff games and holiday rivalry contests being played as late as Thanksgiving. In many American states, the championship games take place in early December. College football's regular season runs from September through November, while the main professional circuit, the National Football League, plays from September through to early January.
Summer sports, such as association football (in Northern America, East Asia and South Africa), Canadian football, stock car racing, tennis, golf, cricket, and professional baseball, wrap up their seasons in early to late autumn; Major League Baseball's championship World Series is popularly known as the "Fall Classic". (Amateur baseball is usually finished by August.) Likewise, professional winter sports, such as ice hockey and basketball, and most leagues of association football in Europe, are in the early stages of their seasons during autumn; American college basketball and college ice hockey play teams outside their athletic conferences during the late autumn before their in-conference schedules begin in winter.
The Christian religious holidays of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day are observed in autumn in the Northern hemisphere. Easter falls in autumn in the southern hemisphere.
The secular celebration of International Workers' Day also falls in autumn in the southern hemisphere.
Since 1997, Autumn has been one of the top 100 names for girls in the United States. Popular Baby Names, Social Security Online.
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).
In Asian mysticism, Autumn is associated with the element of metal, and subsequently with the colour white, the Bai Hu, and death and mourning.
Eastern Canada and New England are famous for their autumnal foliage, and this attracts major tourism (worth billions of US dollars) for the regions.
==Views of autumn==
==Allegories of autumn in art==
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