Today is the first day of fall, the autumnal equinox. There are two equinoxes per year, spring and fall. The changing of seasons to summer and winter are marked by solstices. During an equinox, the sun is directly over the equator, so day and night are equivalent. Now our daylight hours will shorten rapidly, and our nights lengthen until we hit the longest night of the year in December.

 

Now we modern people barely notice the changing of the seasons, only noting it if we happen to glance at a calendar. In ancient times, the fall equinox was celebrated with festivals. The Celts of Ireland, Wales and Britain celebrated the sabbat (festival) of Mabon during the equinox. Mabon was a Welsh god and the son of Modron, the great mother goddess. To the Celts, this was primarily a harvest festival. It wouldn’t hurt us to impart a little festivity into our lives at this time of year, and more importantly, see what’s happening in the natural world around us.

 

Part of spending more time outdoors is learning to be in tune with the seasons. See the leaves change color, watch for V’s of geese flying south, smell the crisp air. Fall is a wonderful time for hiking, camping, bird watching or lighting a fire in the fire pit.

The idea for this blog came about after reading two particular books this summer. The first was Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv, which addresses children’s lack of proximity to nature. Louv’s book outlines how disconnected our children have become from nature, and thus they either fear or romanticize it. We can blame TV all we want, but we, as parents, have allowed this to happen. It’s time to change the tide.

The second book was Going Alone: Women’s Adventures in the Wild, edited by Susan Fox Rogers. Reading this book I thought, “Is it so notable for women to be outdoors by themselves that they wrote a book about it?” Then I took a look at myself and considered how often do I “go alone?” Not often. While I run and walk on forest service land close to my Custer home almost daily, I didn’t set out for a day hike without my daughter and/or husband along. So this summer I changed that and have started taking solo hikes. (Note: To me, spending a couple of hours walking along forest service roads near my house isn’t a hike, it’s a walk, and I often do that alone.)

So WildMom will address the two prongs of women and the outdoors: getting out there with our children and getting out there by ourselves. I hope you will join me on this adventure!