As the leaves begin to take on a golden shade and a growing windchill sends people into warmer clothes, the fall equinox reminds the planet that seasons are changing. Starting Monday night, the Earth will reach the point where the sun shines down directly on the equator, favoring neither the Southern nor Northern Hemispheres. They both experience 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of nighttime for just one day, according to the Christian Science Monitor.
But despite the event's significance in the solar system, how and why did the human population come to celebrate it?
People have been fascinated by both the spring and fall equinoxes since the dawn of humankind. Long before telescopes and other modern astronomical observation equipment were invented, ancient humans created physical monuments to track the Earth's orbit around the sun; take, for example, Stonehenge in southern England and the Mayan celestial calendar in Mexico.
Some historians also believe that Easter and the Feast of St. Michael in the Christian religion were also originally scheduled to coincide with the established equinox celebrations.
The neutrality between the hemispheres has long been interpreted to mean balance in the world. Once the equinox passes, nights will get longer and temperatures will drop, according to WikiHow.
Around the world, different cultures all celebrate the equinox in different ways and for specific reasons. In China, the Moon Festival is celebrated around the September equinox. The summer's harvest is cause for the event, and the mooncake filled with lotus, sesame seeds and duck egg is the traditional snack of the holiday, according to Time and Date.
Many Americans will put up scarecrows, pumpkins and other fall-festive items in the yard to signal the equinox. Those with a garden may plant crops that will produce during the late fall or winter, like cauliflower and lettuce.
