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Autumn Leaves Day (Fall Equinox)
🎶 "The falling leaves,
Drift by the window,
The autumn leaves,
Of red and gold"
~ Autumn Leaves, Joseph Kosma with original lyrics by Jacques Prévert, English lyrics by Johnny Mercer, 1945
Happy Autumnal Equinox! For the northern hemisphere, the fall equinox marks the transition between summer and fall and the advent of leaves changing to their warm rich colours of autumn, visually balancing the cooler temperatures of the fall season. In Japan, the custom of viewing the changing colour of maples in the autumn is called "momijigari". Various shades of red, yellow, purple, black, blue, orange, magenta, and brown are visible, sometimes on a single leaf! Deciduous plants were once believed to shed their leaves in autumn primarily because the high costs involved in their maintenance over the benefits from photosynthesis, but today additional theories for colour changes also include the concept of a special signaling mechanism to discourage insects. Farewell, summer! 🍁🍃 🍂
This tartan, designed by Carol A.L. Martin, exhibits the rich colours of maple leaves in the fall.
Many maples have bright autumn foliage, and many countries have leaf-watching traditions. In Japan, the custom of viewing the changing colour of maples in the autumn is called "momijigari".
The Acer saccharum Sugar Maple trees are a major contributor to seasonal fall tourism in North America, particularly in Central Ontario, Québec, and the northern tier of the United States including Wisconsin, Michigan, Vermont, New York, New Hampshire and Western Massachusetts.
Maples are important as source of syrup and wood. Dried wood is often used for the smoking of food and the charcoal from maples is an integral part of the process used to make Tennessee Whiskey.
Sugar maple wood ("hard maple") is the wood of choice for bowling pins, bowling alley lanes, pool cue shafts, and butcher's blocks, and the manufacture of wooden baseball bats.
Maple is also considered a tonewood, or a wood that carries sound waves well, and is used in numerous musical instruments, including violins, violas, bassoons, electric guitars, cellos, drums, recorders, and double basses.
For more on the custom of "leap peeping," click the beautiful Japanese maple tree.