The Autumnal Equinox

Bible Study with Gene : A monthly column by retired CoB ordained minister and scholar Eugene F. Roop———————————————————————————————————————————

The Autumnal Equinox happens on September 22, marking a time when the sun shines directly on the equator. In our culture, the day usually goes unnoticed except for occasional remarks about the start of Autumn.

This isn't the case in many other cultures. The Autumnal Equinox marks an important point in the seasonal harvest for many people in the Northern Hemisphere. The day is celebrated with harvest festivals and Equinox festivities. 

The ancient Mayans built temples with shadows aligned with the sun’s equinox. The ancient Romans arranged their calendar to match the Autumn and Spring Equinoxes and the Winter and Summer Solstices (the days when the sun is at its farthest south (winter) and north (summer). The Roman Julian calendar synchronized itself with these solar events. In China, the Autumnal Equinox celebrates the harvest. In Japan, it remains a public holiday, a day to remember and honor one's ancestors.  

In the Jewish community, this marks Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the year. Ten holy days later, they observe Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The ten High Holy Days include a mix of joy and sorrow, feasting and fasting, repentance and confession, forgiveness and renewal.

Biblical Calendar

We don’t have a detailed calendar description from Ancient Israel. We can list specific feast and festival dates, but not a complete list of months and days. Still, we know there was a cycle of days aligned with agricultural seasons—a time for planting and a time for harvesting various grains and fruits.

There is evidence that Canaanites used a more explicit calendar, which Israel may have also used. Later, when the country was controlled by the Euphrates River countries (Assyria, Babylonia, Persia), then Greece, and eventually Rome, the Israelites/Jews apparently followed their calendars.  The one distinctive Jewish calendrical element we see for sure is the Sabbath week. Sabbath became carefully practiced in the Babylonian/Persian era, but it likely had earlier roots.

An Equinox Proposal

It is doubtful that our Christian tradition will develop another calendrical holiday. We have Christmas (celebrated in the week of the Winter Solstice) and Easter (a date defined in connection with the Spring Equinox). 

Our Thanksgiving Day occurs about 8 or 9 weeks after the Equinox. Thanksgiving may have started as a celebration of the harvest. It still holds some of that meaning. However, in line with our Anabaptist heritage, Thanksgiving now serves as a day to renew our relationship with family and friends.

Perhaps the Autumnal Equinox could take on a more Pietistic, personal renewal. Maybe it can inspire us to notice not only how the season is changing but also how we are changing. Our lives gradually develop from childhood to adulthood and into the Senior Years. How is our trust in God changing? What might God be seeking from me now that differs from earlier stages of my life? What parts of my past identity should I release to live out who I am now?

As an octogenarian, I have new physical and mental limitations. However, there is much I can do. It is simply different than a decade or two ago. Am I willing to live in a faithful manner, appropriate to the days of my life?

September 22nd may be just another day. The days don’t suddenly get shorter. They have been doing that since June. But many cultural and religious communities, yesterday and today, set aside the Autumnal Equinox as a special day: to give thanks for the harvest, to remember previous generations, and/or a day of personal reflection.  That’s not a bad agenda for the Autumnal Equinox.