Recently we had a very big typhoon come through Kagawa. I hope that everyone here was okay when the big storm arrived. Shikoku seems very safe, but it is still possible that big storms can make a lot of trouble. Typhoon season brings with it the season of autumn too. The long hot days of summer are going away, the night is cool, and we see the beginning of the next season of autumn. It is a beautiful time of the year.
In English the word “autumn” is not very old. The first using of the word “autumn” was only about five hundred years ago. Before that, the word “autumn” did not exist. People used the word “harvest” instead. “Harvest” is when we gather or take in the fruit and vegetables on the farm. We harvest potatoes and corn. We harvest wheat and carrots. We harvest apples and pumpkins. Soon we will see the rice farmers using their machines and tractors to harvest the rice from the rice fields.
Harvest is our time to receive things from the field. Harvest is the time to get something from the spring. In spring we work so hard to plant seeds and to take care of plants. In autumn we can see the benefits of our hard work. Maybe this is something like your school study experience. You put seeds in the beginning of your school year. In April you start your study. In April you get your new textbooks and start from the beginning. You start from seeds. This is the time where you are at the middle point of the school year. How are your seeds growing? Are you learning new things? Are you improving? Are you getting better at Science, Art, Music, Math, Social Studies, and English? Are you getting stronger through your P.E. class and sports clubs? Are you growing something important inside your mind and heart?
Autumn is a special season. It is traditionally the season of moon gazing, or watching the moon. It is the season of family coming together. It is the season of great food and drink. It is the season of a new kind of energy, and a season for reading and thinking. It is the season to ask yourself, “What’s next?”
Autumn is season that is loved by writers and poets. Many great poems have been written that talk about the feelings and experiences of autumn. It is a season when people begin to feel older, and darker, and lets them think about their own feelings. It is also a season for great painting too. the colors that come in autumn, the reds, oranges, and yellows are like artistic explosions on the mountains.
Autumn is a special time around the world. In Mexico, they celebrate “Dia de los Muertos”, which means “Day of the Dead”. It is a time to remember friends and family members who died. India has the Festival of Lights, called the Diwali Festival. Germany has Oktoberfest, where they drink a lot of beer. Nepal has the Festival of Dashain, a celebration of good fighting evil. France has the White Night Festival. Switzerland has a cow fighting event called “The Battle of Queens”. China has the Moon Festival. And in Canada and America we have Halloween and Thanksgiving.
As you can see, autumn is a season of great change, and a season of great fun and celebration. Nature teaches us that life is always changing, and autumn is the season for this feeling.
How would you like to change? What things do you want to do from now? How are you going to grow the seeds inside you, and what harvest in your heart and mind will you see at the end of this school year?