The Allure of Autumn
Even as the natural world is dying, it makes us feel more alive.
What is it about this time of year that makes us want the full autumn experience, to take part in the viral cultural atmosphere of pumpkin spice, sweaters, and rainy days? There’s a nostalgia associated with the season – but why?
To begin with, autumn is the most sensory season, and so it’s arrival is triggered by concrete, real sensations. We can hear the crunch of leaves, the patter of rain. We taste the hot chocolate, tart apples, turkey and cranberries. We feel the crisp, brisk air and celebrate cooler weather. We smell cinnamon and pumpkin pie. We see warm colors crop up everywhere, and rejoice in plaid shirts and scarves. The steamy breath and gloom of fall arrives in a much stronger fashion than the beginnings of spring, summer, or winter’s cold can hope to match.
In essence, it’s a time of change, and we subconsciously seek the opportunity to start over. Breaking up stagnation in our lives after a long and humid summer gives us the energy to contemplate new tasks and possibilities.
Fall is both a beginning and an end. Autumn kicks off a new school year, and it restarts our personal calendar more than New Year’s Day does. All the good TV shows and movies come out, and advertisements start capitalizing on the snugness of the season. People feel more alive in the evenings, as they get longer as the sun starts setting sooner, so there’s more to enjoy. But on the other hand, there is a catharsis in having all the green come to an end, in seeing all of this decay around us. Some of us suffer from sadness around this time of year, an ennui or listlessness also associated with the encroaching winter.
For Thanksgiving, it’s a ritual that connects us to another era. Although we’re all aware that we, or someone else, will be spending hours preparing a feast that’ll be immediately devoured, the effort is not wasted because it fills a social need.
To elaborate, the tradition of the holiday is what links us to the past. Doing the same ritual has power, and as we grow older, it’s inevitable that we want something to remind us of days when life was less complicated and we had others to worry about our problems. For some of us, our parents used to cook us turkey, but now we have to do it ourselves and that’s subconsciously hard to deal with. For others, the anticipation of the most fun holidays of the year like Halloween or Christmas remind us of our youth.
Nostalgia makes us feel as if our lives are meaningful and helps us cope with feeling alone or disconnected. If you’re especially sensitive to the autumn season, it could be you’re craving a familiarity that only comes amidst the fallen leaves and puddles of fall.
