Many songs were composed about September, when the earth after a summer heat, cools down and mellows. In temperate countries, sizzling summer days slow down, as nature ushers in a magical festive season. The misty and at times damp autumn after a summer heat turn leaves into flaming shades of reds, gold, yellows, oranges, pink and brown,
as if a Mighty Hand waves a magical wand over nature and “viola,” flaming colors appear, where once there was only green. No one really knows the exact magical moment when transformation occurs as it seems to happen overnight. However elusive that autumn moment, the time is certain, for not too long after, leaves begin to fall with the autumn winds. In an old song “Autumn leaves”, falling leaves aptly are referred to, thus “the falling leaves, drift by my windows. The falling leaves of red and gold”… To tourists in September, the change of season is breathtaking and a memorable time to appreciate striking similarity between nature and man’s life. Unlike in springtime when flowers burst forth colors and signal new beginnings, autumn’s flaming colors carry a melancholy message of passing beauty, comparing autumn’s breathtaking scenes, the days getting shorter, and the proximity of an ending in the appearance of leafless trees of winter at year end.
The more autumnal scenes for tourists in America are in the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, where colorful maple and oak trees are in abundance. Such setting inspired the great American poet, Robert Frost to write poems about nature. In places as the Shenandoah valley in Virginia which in summer lie in shades of green, in autumn, green turns into fiery oranges, yellows, purples and browns. The Appalachian mountain ranges burn aflame in the Kentucky forests, as the Skyline drive in Virginia planted with variety of trees in both sides of the mountain drive runs in wild colors. How nature can put on a magnificent show with little help from man, as fabulous as Catskills mountains, or the Nyack, both in New York is a wondrous miracle of nature. At the Yellowstone park in California, home of Yogi bear, colors paint the mountain tops, sides and valleys. In Europe in the Black Forest of Vienna, Austria, trees are planted with colors of autumn in mind, so that in September, groups of colors stand in lineal order and harmony expressing human artistry with nature’s colors. In green and cold Zurich, Switzerland, burning color match ruddy faces as cold session wind whips on them while climbing sweeping hills and Alpine mountain. In Paris, before chestnut trees lining the avenues shed their leaves in winter, artists as Degas, Matisse, and Monet sketches have captured autumn colors on their canvass as they sit painting at cafes. In the tropics where change of seasons is less dramatic, leaves slightly change color, sometimes unnoticed as the sun continue to architect the seasons.
Amid equinoctial quiet, music, the soul’s language, joins in world festivities. At beautiful Fairfax in the green hills of Marin County, California, a short drive from Golden Gate, a town of 65 acres of Redwood groves and oaks with meandering creeks and streams is built around Fairfax park. Atop the hill at the center of the park, a pavilion overlooks the town. With access to wildness, tourists enjoy the charms and wealth of autumn colors, with fine diners and pubs. At night, the town offers jazz events. Here the Fairfax music festival takes places Sept. 21 to 22. For music lovers, around this date, the Earth, Mother, Mood Jam, a multi-cultural music and art festivals are set at Powder Ridge in Kimball, a ski resort in Minnesota. Featuring over 60 musical artists, poetry, dance, performing arts, video, drums and camping, there is food and whatever is good for both body and soul of young and old. In Carencro, Louisiana, the Lafayette reggae festival is opened to all reggae fans and tourists. Another music festival is held on Labor Day at the One Drop World Music Festival at Woodley Park, in California.
Jewish folks hold important festivals in September, the Yom Kippur, a time to return to God, a festival of reconciliation, and where one can dream one’s wildest dreams and plan its realization as the autumn dictates the moods of man and his soul. The other is the Rosh Hashana a day of appreciating who God is, and crowning Him as King. It is not enough for the Jewish people to love God alone, if to his concept the rest of humanity thinks otherwise, so that Jewish love for the Almighty is to guide all people to appreciate Him. In the Orient, in China while the West celebrates Halloween on Nov. 1, the Taiwanese celebrate the 7th lunar month of early Roman calendar with a Ghost festival, a popular celebration in China, to fete the departed spirits. Traditionally, families offer newly harvested grain to ancestors, a celebration which coincides with the Buddhist Ullambana and the taoist festival, making the month a ghost month. In Taiwan, the ghost festival is observed by butchering a pig and a sheep, which with wine, is offerers to ancestors and to the spirits of the underworld. A grand Keeling ghost day ceremony is celebrated around the island of Taiwan. The festival used to be a grand, pompous festival, but of late had been modest, as the gov’t. encourages more frugal forms of prayers in folk customs. In Buddhist Japan, the Japanese visit their ancestor’s graves during September.
In our country, September brings in cooler weather and showers in the evening. It is time when the tuna fish is biting, and harvest is bountiful. To celebrate the abundance of fish, festivals are organized thanksgiving to the Almighty. In Cotabato, the Himagyao festival, is held with the tuna fish, crafts and country fair. In Gen. Santos City, a Tuna festival parade with costumed young men and women celebrate the generous harvest, with the local economy picking up, and increased sales of the canned tuna industry. In historic Malolos Bulacan, known for heroes and beautiful women, from the 8th to 15th of the month, Bulacan heritage is feted in the Linggo ng Bulacan. For historians and tourists, Bulacan is birthplace of many of our heroes, with her historical spots as important settings of our history and struggles for independence. In Siargao, Surigao del Norte, a surfer’s paradise, Siargao international surfing competition is held the 23rd to 27th of September. For the aesthetics of handicraft, the Banigan and Kawayan Festival is held in Basey, Samar, where both classic and modern rattan and bamboo designs are handwoven into the mats. More bamboo innovative crafts in furnitures and decors are displayed with improved designs and workmanship, while Misamis Occidental celebrates the Dalit festival in the 25th of the month.
September, a month of only 30 days is poignantly captured in the lines of yet another song, “For its a long time from May to December… and the days twiddle down to a precious few…” September is one of more profoundly spiritual months when nature and man join in common spiritually. Man’s searching soul and nature’s spectacular autumn nature shows seen in person or in pictures and movies brings him closer to God, the Author of such loveliness and colors of the earth in September.
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