ResearchAll about Autumn... a Little Dance Through the Leaves
If you live in a temperate zone, October is the time of year when you first notice the deciduous trees change their colors. All along the American Midwest, New England, and North-Eastern states, the fall leaves put on a spectacular color show and begin to fall to the ground. If the wind kicks up when you're standing in a grove, you can stand still and actually hear the leaves fall like rain.
Autumn is perhaps the most widely celebrated season in most cultures. It is associated with harvest time in many parts of the world, reflected in the American tradition of Thanksgiving and the Jewish Sukkot, the festival of the tabernacles. There are also the North American Indian harvest festivals and the Chinese Mid-Autumn or Moon festivals. Autumn celebrations have a mix of gratitude for nature's bounty combined with a melancholy for the coming harsh winter season, and thus is often a time of remembrance for the dead as well, perhaps because the dying leaves put people in that mood.
Of course, if you listen to author Kurt Vonnegut, there are actually six seasons instead of four. In his idea, January and February are the real Winter. March and April are what he calls "unlocking", with nature shifting from Winter to Spring. May and June are the real Spring, July and August are the real Summer, September and October are the real Autumn. Then comes "locking", which is November and December, when nature removes itself from the growth cycle and shuts down for the true Winter. I've yet to see the person who saw this idea who didn't remark that it made perfect sense.
One may wonder what it is that causes the leaves to change color. Actually, all of the colors were already there in the leaf to start with, but the chlorophyll gives the leaf so much green color that it masks the other colors out. It is when the tree begins to cut off the leaf's support that it looses it's chlorophyll and the other colors begin to show through. These colors are produced by carotenoids, which give yellow, brown, and orange hues, and by anthocyanins, which give the red and purple colors. The mix of chlorophyll, carotenoid, and anthocyanin determines the colors of each leaf. In some trees, the leaves will have a mixture of all colors, producing leaves which are all different, like snowflakes!
The changing of the Fall foliage has produced a miniature tourism industry. Small package tours have sprung up around the few weeks in Autumn when the foliage is at it's peak color change. These "leaf peeper" tours range from guided tour bus expeditions around New England and Canada to weekend package getaways that include a snug stay at a bed-and-breakfast inn. In addition, many Renaissance Faires and Wiccan/Pagan festivals schedule their events in the Fall, with some association with Fall foliage thrown in.
No matter how you greet the Fall, it is a time of year unlike any other. If you don't live where the seasons are evident, you're missing out if you don't at least come by a temperate zone during the Autumn months. They promise not to make you stay and shovel their snow!