Fall arrives in St. Joseph
Payton Counts
ST. JOSEPH, Mo (News-Press NOW) — Fall has officially arrived, creating excitement for a cool down compared to summer temperatures.
The autumn equinox is a day when daylight and darkness are nearly equal. The word equinox comes from the Latin words aequi, meaning equal, and nox, meaning night.
Specifically, autumn arrived at 1:19 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, marking an official start to the season.
Back before clocks were invented, the sun’s position had to be tracked in order to tell time. They were able to figure out that there were two days of the year when the sun rises almost due east and sets due west.
Due to the way Earth’s atmosphere refracts sunlight, we get a little more daylight, but it still comes out to nearly 12 hours for both day and night.
Across the Northern hemisphere, people celebrate the equinox in different ways.
For some, it’s simply grabbing your favorite fall-flavored coffee. For others, it may mean festivals, food and traditions.
The “Wheel of the Year” is a symbolic cycle of eight seasonal festivals that dates back to ancient Celtic culture.
“There are three harvest festivals,” said Summer Kemmey, owner of Traveler’s Hearth. “There’s the Lughnasadh, which is the first harvest, and then there’s Mabon, which is the autumn equinox, and then the Samhain, which is what we call Halloween.”
The calendar is meant to connect with nature and its cycles.
Mabon, in particular, emphasizes balance as it takes place during a time of nearly equal days and nights.
The Celts used it to give thanks to the natural world for a plentiful harvest and a time to reflect on the months past and how to reset going forward.
Today, celebrations vary depending on culture and community. But no matter how you celebrate the day, the equinox carries the same reminder as it did in ancient times — winter is right around the corner.