Autumn again

No matter how you calculate it, we’re now in autumn. I, of course, think of March 1 as the start, while others wait for the March Equinox. See what I did there? I didn’t refer to the season. That’s because “Vernal Equinox” and “Autumnal Equinox” don’t actually mean anything without a reference to date or, at least, hemisphere.

When we in the Southern Hemisphere enter autumn, the Northern Hemisphere enters spring. So, without context, I can’t tell when someone is talking about if they say “Vernal Equinox” or “Autumnal Equinox”.

Because there’s such a Northern Hemisphere bias in, well, just about everything, it’s been standard practice to use those seasonal equinox names and mean their dates North of the Equator, leaving us in the South to translate. However, it’s now the accepted practice to refer to the “March Equinox” and “September Equinox”, along with “December Solstice” and “June Solstice”, rather than include any seasonal reference.

I bet there are some Northern Hemisphere types who moan about this as “PC run amok,” or something equally dismissive, but in an increasingly interconnected planet, it just makes sense to use terms that are clear, no matter where one actually lives.

But no matter what you call it, or when it arrives, this ranks third on my list of seasons because it precedes winter, my least favourite (summer is my favourite, with spring my second favourite because it leads into summer). It didn’t help that today was a dreary, rainy—though not cool—day.

On the bright side, it’s now less than six months until spring!