Celebrating the Fall Equinox

Lesson Planning

Fall Sensory Bin

I have always felt a connection to nature. Maybe it's my Pocahontas/Avatar Animism beliefs, or the validity of the Sun, of water, of wind. But since learning about the Spring & Fall Equinox and Summer & Winter Solstice during the growth of social media, it made sense to me to honor and celebrate these transitional experiences of life. Then I started traveling abroad and realized ancient traditions celebrated them in very big ways. Like creating stone structures in perfect alignment with the placement of the Sun during an Equinox (like Dzibilchaltun, Temple of the Seven Dolls in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula which I had the honor of visiting.) or a Solstice like Stonehenge.

Dzibilchaltun, Temple of the Seven Dolls in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula during the Spring Equinox

Stonehenge in England during the Summer Solstice

Just as a reminder in case you didn't know, the Equinox, whether in Spring or Fall, is when there is an Equal amount of Day and Night. The Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year or the day with the most sunlight. The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year or the day with the least sunlight. When ancestors worshipped the sun, it did not surprise me. Our food and harvest was dependent upon the sun so it was a PRETTY BIG deal when the seasons changed.

That said, the Fall Equinox is when cultures around the globe (but also at different times of the year) would celebrate their Harvest. The books pictured below are what I use within my Fall Equinox Curriculum for my 2.5 year old to learn about different Harvest Traditions around the world.

Books from the Public Library

My daughter's art and craft for the season

To run it back, this is what I try to include within my Seasonal Holiday curriculum:

• Books

• Movies/TV Shows

• Art and Crafts

• Sensory Play

• Event Experience (I also may cook for the occasion. For the Fall Equinox, I make Succotash; a Narragansett/New England indigenous dish and include some okra to honor my enslaved African ancestors).

The Fall Equinox also begins the holiday season:

• Mid-Autumn Moon Festival

  • Thanking the Moon by Grace Lin

• Diwali - Hindu Festival of Lights

  • Happy Diwali! by Sanyukta Mathur

  • It's Diwali! by Kabir Sehgal

  • Let's Celebrate Diwali by Sita Singh

• Halloween

  • My Baby Loves Halloween by Jabari Asim

  • Halloween Trick-or-treat by Lydia Nichols

  • Halloweentown, Halloweentown II, Halloweentown High

  • Twitches and Twitches Too

  • Hocus Pocus

  • The Addams Family

  • Monsters Inc. and Monsters University

  • There are A LOT of shows with Halloween episodes

• Dia de los Muertos - Mexican Day of the Dead

  • The Day of the Dead by Bob Barner

  • Dia De Los Muertos by Hannah Eliot

  • Mi Familia Calaca by Cynthia Weill

  • Day of the Dead by Julie Murray

  • Día De Muertos Números by Duncan Tonatiuh

  • Coco

• Thanksgiving (Decolonized)

  • Keepunumuk: Weeachumun's Thanksgiving Story by Danielle Greendeer

  • Squanto's Journey, The Story of the First Thanksgiving by Joseph Bruchac

  • If You Lived During the Plimoth Thanksgiving by Chris

  • Molly of Denali - "Truth, Trust, Harvest/ Thanks-For-Giving" Episode

  • I am Thankful by Sonali Fry

  • Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes

  • The Thankful Book by Todd Parr

  • Addams Family Values

I did create a Thanksgiving playlist so Christmas wouldn't have all the fun lol. I've been told it slaps!

Living in the Bay Area of California allows us to attend different events of different cultures. It's VERY important to me that I expose my daughter to diversity. As we are people of the global majority.

How do you celebrate the fall season?