Autumn a Time of Harvest

Harvest Time

Shades of Autumn by Wanda

Blown in on the restless winds of change

Autumn returns with its flame-tinted palette

There’s a cooling nip to the early morning air

A time for bare foot walks on dew covered grass

As I inhale the rich scent of newly mown lawns

And windfall apples that are ripe for the taking

A time to watch the monarch butterfly fluttering

From flower to flower as the bees gather their pollen

A time to watch the trees changing colour

From shades of green to bright golden yellows,

Russet reds, the glory of copper and burnished browns

Autumn - a time of harvest and time to wind down.

After the raging wind and relentless rain of last night I woke to a cloudless, star spattered sky and now the sun is shining, the air is fresh and clean and all is well with my world. Apart, that is, from leaf covered lawns and some rather battered trees and shrubs that will have to be dealt with. All good outdoor exercise.

Since I was little, I have always loved autumn. There has always been something comforting and mysterious about Autumn for me. It makes me think of bonfires, Harvest Festivals, jam and jelly making and putting down preserves for the winter, together with all the simple pleasures, smells and memories such activities evoke.

Walking through the fallen leaves, pressing multi-coloured leaves in albums, licking spoons coated with newly made jams and jellies, the smoke from autumn bonfires tickling my nose and the stickiness of those tasty, toffee apple treats, are all magical memories from my childhood. 

In ancient times the Celts of Europe celebrated the autumn equinox  or Mabon as they called it. In ancient Greece autumn was the time of the Greater Eleusinian Mysteries that was held every five years. This was a time of ceremony and ritual with the central focus being the goddess, Demeter, together with the story of her daughter, Persephone, descending into the underworld.

Harvest festivals also go way back into pagan times and are still celebrated in the Christian church with people bringing fruit and vegetables, good and such like to be given to those in need. As a child I was fascinated by the wonderful bread creations resembling sheaths of corn and such like that were arranged with all the other produce and flowers before the altar.

In Maori culture Ngahuru was the time of gathering the kumara harvest and so a time of celebration and feasting.

Many New Zealanders, including celebrants, celebrate the seasons and a superbly informative book on the background history and ways of celebrating the seasons is 'Celebrating the Southern Seasons - Rituals for Aotearoa' by well known writer, artist and teacher, Juliet Batten and published by Tandem Press.

Harvest & the Burning of the Leaves

Wanda Brittain

Each season has its purpose

Each comes in its allotted time

and from conception to death

From dying to eternal rebirth the cycles

of life revolve as night turns into day

But harvest is the season when

all is gathered in, all the richness

all the goodness as the grape upon the vine

is turned into the blood red wine

to warm us in the winter chill

We burn the leaves in autumn

when all is safely gathered in

and with the leaves we let go our

fears, regrets, our failings and watch them

float away in smoky spirals upon the air

We look to winter when Mother Nature

hibernates, and the earth takes it's rest

and we look forward to the rebirth 

as we await the Spring

     "Youth is like spring, an over praised season more 

remarkable for biting winds than genial breezes. 

 Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers 

we more than gain in fruits. " 

Samuel Butler