Vol. 2, Issue 1: Autumnal Transition
Michaelmas, October feasts, & Hallowtide
From the Editor
Welcome back, friends!
Here on the farm, the height of our harvest season is winding down…roots are being washed & stored, animals are sheltered against rain, and our month of harvest festivals and pumpkin patch delight is about to come to a close. Fall always feels like a season wholly of transition…an in-between place in time.
Time itself is a sacred mystery; our cultural reckoning of time, though, is ever-changing and shifting. The way we move through time, separate it into categories, and engage with it is not immutable, and our various landscapes and latitudes have a huge impact on the way we understand the passage of time.
Maybe this is why I find it so helpful to touch bases with timekeeping through historical lenses and perspectives outside of my home region; shifting my frame of reference helps me better separate the “transient” from the “permanent,” and helps to shake loose any rigid ways of looking at time that I’ve taken for granted as being somehow default.
We can see this reflected in linguistic artifacts, as Dr. Eleanor Parker poignantly emphasizes in her book Winters in the World:
“In this two-season structure [used by the Anglo-Saxons], what we’d think of as spring was part of summer, and the months we’d consider autumn fall partly at the end of summer (in harvest), partly in winter. This probably explains why words for spring and autumn have fluctuated much more in the history of English than the names for summer and winter. Though the words ‘summer’ and ‘winter’ go back to very similar Anglo-Saxon names, ‘spring’ and ‘autumn’ are much later additions to the language.”1
Though I love having four seasons, and though Fall is my favorite of these, there’s something really profound in stepping outside of my habitual way of looking at time and seeing seasonal change more as a spectrum and less as a sudden shift marked by a date on a calendar. It’s a way of counting our days as the gentle gradation of movement between two poles: light and dark, Midsummer & Midwinter, Johnsmas & Christmas.
Anchors of a growing season and a resting season, bridged by the misty thin-places of time - Autumn and Spring - that transport us to & fro through this pattern, year after year.
Today’s issue is a celebration of Fall as this embodiment of transition. We’ll look back to Michaelmas, where St. Michael the Archangel accompanies us into the darker half of the year & Ember Days train our habits; ponder the often-overlooked October days that lead up to Hallowe’en; and, of course, we’ll step into Hallowtide, that most transitional of holiday sequences.
Wishing you the paradox of the season: comfort & coziness fostered in the waning light and cooling breeze.
Pax et bonum,
Recalling September
Looking back at Michaelmas and the Ember Days, when Summer shifts to Fall
In Search of Lost Sacred Time
Lamenting the loss of so many traditions during calendar revisions, Thomas shares the historical roots of the Ember Days, as well as their spiritual boon:
“Life has its seasons, and that’s what the old calendar did so well. It made time, which is also the creation of God, holy. The Ember Days are a time for rebooting, renewal, purging, casting out the demons, starting again. Having that opportunity to pause, the repent, to renew, and to be thankful four more times a year is a treasure we shouldn’t have discarded. It’s a beautiful tradition, and one you are perfectly free to start again.”
Enjoy the rest of this beautiful recollection of Ember Days!
Michael, of Celestial Armies Prince
Looking to the extraordinary 12th century Stammheim Missal,
dives into the detailed nuances of a miniature illumination that introduces the missal’s variable prayers for Michaelmas.“The illuminator created an image that both delights the viewer and inspires a fearsome confidence in the immaterial spirits who surround the throne of God and bring His divine aid to the children of men. The painting depicts the battle between angels and the forces of evil, with Michael casting down the dragon of which the Scripture speaks…”
Learn more about this incredible illumination here!
A Poem for Michaelmas
Christie offers us this lyrical, effervescent poem for Michaelmas - a hallmark of the movement from summer to fall. She places us right into the hedgerow of an autumnal Michaelmas…
Let slip past the friendly ghosts
of summer last and lost friends,
o sainted angel, o heavy halo-headed, lift
your binding sword and watch
at autumn’s gates…"
Ponder the whole poem on Christie’s Blogspot!
Old Michaelmas and Blackberry Bramble
Though the Western Church celebrates Michaelmas on September 29, “Old” Michaelmas lands around mid-October…a shift having to do with calendar revisions and timekeeping over the centuries. Inspired by this,
shares a beautiful painting, the legendary blackberry tale, and an original tune, too.“As a result, blackberries are not to be harvested after October 10th. You may think to yourself, why would I want to harvest blackberries anyway, their delicious summer goodness being long past? Let this little legend help you set aside any lingering temptation to pick one last berry, and leave blackberries well enough alone until next year.”
Enjoy this beautiful multi-sensory piece here!
Settling into Autumn
With Fall in full-swing, these pieces explore October’s liturgical rhythms
On St. Luke’s Day, the oxen have leave to play
| S+S EDITOR |
“But St. Luke, one of the architects of our faith tradition, pauses us and invites us to a holy interruption: his ‘Little Summer.’ […]
“Which makes me wonder: am I ready to look for opportunity in an interruption of pattern? Have I built an idol out of the illusion that my days deserve to be predictable? And, most pointedly…in seasons of struggle, do I have the imagination to see Luke’s Little Summer amidst my days, or am I closed down to it?”
Read Kristin’s reflection here!
His Songs are Stronger Songs
shares a beautiful peek into her family’s October camping trip, where The Fellowship of the Ring was the backdrop for their journey (sign me up for Tolkien School!!):“But why memorize prayers, hymns, scripture, and, yes, poetry? Can’t we just use our own words to pray or sing in the moment? Perhaps. But I have found that my words are weak because my faith is weak. Over the centuries, others of great faith and great skill have written stronger songs - stronger than the devil’s lies and stronger than my words of little faith.”
Read the rest of Katherine’s delightful piece!
Hallowtide
Holy Hallowtide
Shauna’h of Fiat Sanctum provides a beautiful, soul-stirring guided retreat via email every Hallowtide, and it’s something I annually look forward to. Her resources have impactful, multi-sensory aspects that help us engage more fully with the season:
“During Holy Hallowtide you will receive a daily emailed agenda with checklists, playlists, recorded sung prayers, a booklist, informative resources, and specialty prayers for the season, including a Novena for the Dead, the Office of the Dead, and more.”
Learn more about the retreat materials here!
Hallowtide at Hearthstone Fables
| S+S EDITOR |
has a variety of Allhallowtide materials - reflections, printables, poetry, history, recipes, and more - that place our popular understanding of Hallowe’en within its context: as the opening movement to Hallowmas & Soulmas.“Like the harvest, our lives are fleeting - our days filled with efforts within our control and circumstances far outside it. We hope we live the best we can with the days we weather, and when it’s all done - what does that late October harvest look like?”
“Allhallowtide sets aside time and space to ask this of ourselves - to stare starkly at our mortality, and to lean on our forebears in the cloud of witnesses as we do so. To see the dead as part of our community, and realize that the journey through death of which they all partook will be part of our own story, too.”
View the collection of posts here!
Know someone who might enjoy the topics covered in this issue of Signs + Seasons?
Thanks for joining us for the first issue of our SECOND volume of Signs + Seasons!!
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Join us for more Signs + Seasons
Next Publication Date: December 2024
Submission Deadline: TBD
Themes/Recommended Prompts: Advent, Christmastide, Winter
In Christ,
Kristin, Sara, & Dixie
I'm about halfway through _Winters on the World_ and LOVING it!!
I believe that Autumn is such a precious season because its stages are so fleeting. The most brilliant trees are at their peak for such a short time. And one good wind can cut their glory even shorter.
I look forward to reading all of these posts.