What does autumn living mean for homemakers who are interested in living by the seasons? Autumn is a time of transition. The world is shifting from its light half to a dark half. There is a chill in the air. Leaves are turning their brilliant hues of reds, yellows, and oranges as they fall and gather in piles on the ground. While the light half of the year reflects a vibrant energy, the dark half calls for a calmer, slower state of being. And autumn is a transitionary period between the light and dark. It’s about balance.
As a homemaker, you are the one who brings this calmer, cozier atmosphere to your home and all who enter it. Embracing autumn living and focusing on keeping a warm welcoming home will bring harmony and balance to you and your family.
Here are nine ways to embrace autumn living within your home.
Embrace Autumn Living and the Harvest Together
Autumn is celebrated as a time of abundance. The harvest is celebrated and the bounty of nature is at its peak. Embrace autumn living by involving your family in seasonal cooking and meal preparation. This is a great way to teach your children about nature and how to respect and honor the cycles of the earth.
Take lots of trips out to your local pumpkin patch, apple orchard, or berry farm. Pick out fresh produce and support local agriculture. Give your children a hands-on education about how agriculture and nature should always work together.
When you get home, use the fresh produce you found to make seasonal meals. Include things like apples, squash, and grapes.
Check out my article on celebrating the September harvest with Demeter for a more spiritual aspect of the harvest season.Â
Create a Cozy, Sacred Autumn Living Space
As the temperatures drop and the days grow shorter, it’s time to create a warm and inviting atmosphere within your home. Make your home reflect your reverence for nature by making it a sacred space for autumn living.
You can engage your children in crafting homemade decorations that you can display in your home. Autumn garlands and wreaths that incorporate lots of fall foliage and florals are great ways to display creativity.
Use scents like clove, cinnamon, orange, apple, and other autumn scents to add to that atmosphere. You can use diffusers, wax warmers, candles, and incense. Check out this article on making your own Autumn scented wax melts.
Celebrate Seasonal Traditions
There are two main pagan festivals in Autumn. Mabon and Samhain. Incorporate them into your seasonal festivities and your children will look forward to them all year.
Festivals and holidays can help deepen the meaning of the season and they are an important way for families to stay connected to nature and to their ancestors.
Mabon is the Autumn equinox, falling around September 21-24 every year. It is the second of three harvest festivals, the first being Lughnasadh, celebrating the harvest of grains in August.
Samhain is the third harvest festival, occurring on October 31st and celebrates death. It’s a day to remember those you’ve lost in the past year, and to remember your most distant ancestors. It’s said that the veil between the living and the dead is thinnest this year, so this is a great time for divination rituals that help to commune with the dead.
There are many world traditions that fall in this season as well. From Diwali in India to Chuseok in Korea and from the Jewish high holidays to the various traditions of Native Americans, such as the Green Corn Ceremony. Check out my article about why Thanksgiving should be celebrated in September for a more in-depth discussion of the harvest and its meaning all around the world.Â
Autumn is filled with traditions that can be celebrated at home, and incorporating pagan practices into these can deepen the meaning of the season for your family.
Involve children with this by celebrating autumn living. Invite friends and family and ask them all to bring seasonal dishes to share in a feast. Then go around the table asking each guest to tell everyone what they are thankful for this year. And for Samhain, you could throw a dumb supper, which is a great way to honor those family and friends you’ve lost.
Declutter and Prepare for Winter as a Family
As Autumn arrives, reorganize and declutter your home as a family. Take down all the summer decorations you may have and put them in storage for the year. This is a great ritual to do with your children, as it teaches them to let go of one season and usher in the next. Teach them to accept change.
Make a day out of it. If you live by the seasons, keeping seasonal decor is essential to create an atmosphere that invites nature in. As such, you may have various decorations that honor the summer, such as Lughnasadh and Litha decor. Check out my blogs on both Litha and Lughnasadh to see what that may have looked like.Â
But it’s time to say goodbye to the summer. Put all those decorations into boxes for the season and reorganize your home. Make it look nice and orderly. Then, it’s time to pull out the Autumn decor boxes, or to hit the craft store for some new ones.
This is also a good time for some home maintenance to prepare your house for winter. Make sure the fireplace and the heater are working properly, check the insulation, and check your pipes, gutters, and electrical systems. This decluttering ritual can be an annual celebration for autumn living. Just as nature around you is changing, so is your home.
Engage in Seasonal Crafts and Hobbies with Your Family
Get the entire family involved in seasonal crafts and hobbies. Plan out a weekly crafting night for your kids. Get the most out of autumn living as a family. Bake some seasonal treats, like sugar cookies. Carving pumpkins, making a family scrapbook, or learning to knit are all wonderful ideas.
You could also learn to preserve your food, go for a hike, or learn how to forage for things like mushrooms, nuts and acorns, dandelions, and edible berries. Keep a guide so you avoid poisonous plants. But this activity encourages children to live off the land and to get out into nature.
Reflect, and Set Intentions as a Family for Intentional Autumn Living
Autumn is a time of reflection. In between all the crafting and seasonal activities, make sure you take time for some self care. This will help you connect to the season as well. As nature prepares to rest, so should you. This is a time to be calm and reflect on the life you’ve had throughout the year.
In ancient times, Samhain was seen as a new year. So incorporate that into your practice as well. As you reflect on the past year and all the challenges and accomplishments you’ve had, honor your ancestors. Especially those you may have lost in the past year. And this is a good time to remember that death is a part of the cycle of life and while nature is slowing down. Look forward to the eventual renewal to come. Autumn living as a homemaker includes incorporating self-care into your life.
Autumn Living And Honoring A Connection With Nature
Even though the weather is colder, get outdoors with your family as much as possible. Spending time outdoors is important for mental health. And Autumn offers exceptional beauty in its fall foliage.
Organize a hike. Look out for plants and animals that will be prevalent this time of year. Collect fall leaves, pinecones, acorns, etc. Do some Autumn bird watching. Lots of animals, especially bears, will be out and about in fall, as they gather enough food to hibernate during the winter.
Just respect nature. Don’t get too close to wild animals. Don’t pet bears or other creatures, and never try to feed them. When you feed wild animals, you interfere with their natural survival abilities and make them dependent on humans. Remember to respect nature’s cycles, including the cycle of life and death, and let animals fend for themselves as only they know how.
Practice Gratitude as a Family
Make gratitude a part of autumn living. Autumn festivals around the world, like Chuseok and the Jewish high holidays, revolve around practicing being thankful for your bounty. Thanksgiving is the most obvious celebration to do this, but currently, in the United States, Thanksgiving is at the end of November, which is the end of the Autumn season, especially in parts of the country where winter may have already descended.Â
So start your festival of gratitude early. Maybe by asking family members to write what they are grateful for. Then you can put all their papers into a jar, burn them and bury the ashes in the soil, hoping nature will provide more of the same in the coming year.
Nurture Your Family’s Well-being
This is a good time to take care of your mental and physical health. The colder temperatures often cause seasonal depression spells. So promote healthy exercise and dieting within your family. Check out my blog post on Cooking essentials if you are unsure of how to cook healthier meals for your family.
As the season shifts, it’s important to take care of your family’s physical and mental health. The cooler weather and shorter days can sometimes lead to feelings of lethargy or seasonal affective disorder (SAD). To combat this, focus on nurturing your family’s well-being through practices such as regular exercise, a balanced diet, and adequate sleep.
The colder temperatures also have a bad habit of ushering in cold and flu season. Protect yourself by learning about salves and natural remedies that can be provided by nature.
Conclusion
Living a seasonal life as a homemaker is about embracing the changes that come with the season. It’s about incorporating them into your family’s daily life. By focusing on the harvest, creating traditions that endure, and teaching children the importance of living in tune with nature, we can really work towards getting back to our roots.
How are you planning to usher in your Autumn home this year? What are some recipes and decorations you incorporate every year? Are there specific crafts or activities that you and your family do every year? Let me know in the comments.
And don’t forget to check out my articles on Litha and Lughnasadh for more seasonal living in the warmer months. And of course, for more reading about the harvest and how to celebrate, check out my articles on Demeter and on Why Thanksgiving Should Be In September.
