164 Fun Facts About Autumn

Which hidden pigments produce the yellows and oranges of autumn foliage?

Carotenoids, the yellow xanthophylls and orange beta-carotene, sit in the leaf all season and show through once the green fades. Aspens and birches owe their gold to them.

Autumn yellows were in the leaf all along, but which pigment do trees make fresh each fall to turn leaves red?

Red is the only autumn colour a tree has to work for: anthocyanins are made fresh from sugars trapped in the leaf as it seals off, while the yellows are simply unmasked.

Seeds of which tree are threaded on strings for the British autumn game of conkers?

Conkers are the glossy brown seeds of the horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum); each is threaded on a string and players take turns striking an opponent's conker until one shatters.

From which ancient language is the English word 'autumn' derived?

Latin autumnus gave Old French autompne, which entered English in the late 1300s; the Latin word's own earlier origin is uncertain.

What traditional name is given to the full lunar phase that falls nearest the autumnal equinox?

The Harvest Moon is the full moon nearest the autumnal equinox; it can land up to two weeks either side of it, so in some years it is an October moon.

Munich's Oktoberfest, despite its name, opens in which month?

The first festival, on 12 October 1810, celebrated Crown Prince Ludwig's wedding to Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. It now runs from mid-September to the first Sunday in October, when the weather is kinder.

Which fruit is most tied to North American autumn celebrations, from pies to carved lanterns?

Pumpkin pie is a fixture of the Thanksgiving table, and the carved pumpkin is the emblem of the late-October holiday.

What term describes the autumn feeding frenzy of bears and other large hibernators?

Hyperphagia is the late-summer and autumn feeding surge in which a black bear can take in around 20,000 calories a day to lay down fat for hibernation; torpor is the low-metabolism state itself.

Which English Romantic poet, dead at 25, wrote the ode 'To Autumn' that opens 'Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness'?

John Keats wrote 'To Autumn' in 1819 and was dead of tuberculosis within two years, at 25. The ode personifies the season and eases it gently toward winter.

On what date does meteorological autumn begin in the Northern Hemisphere?

Whole-month seasons make year-to-year statistics easier to compare. In the Southern Hemisphere the same convention puts autumn in March, April, and May.

What was the earliest known name for the season now called autumn or fall in English?

German still calls the season Herbst and Dutch herfst. As people moved off the land into towns, 'harvest' shrank to mean only the act of reaping and the newer names took over.

As late summer ends, which environmental change is the main trigger for deciduous trees to begin reclaiming nutrients from their leaves?

Shortening daylight, reinforced by cooling nights, tells a deciduous tree to pull nitrogen and other nutrients back out of its leaves before sealing them off and dropping them.

Which Pre-Raphaelite painted 'Autumn Leaves' (1855-56), showing four girls gathering fallen leaves?

John Ruskin called it 'the first instance of a perfectly painted twilight', and Millais's wife Effie said he wanted a picture 'full of beauty and without a subject'.

Which of these conifers drops all its needles every autumn?

The European larch is a deciduous conifer: its soft needles turn gold in October and fall, leaving bare branches until spring, while pines, spruces and firs keep theirs through winter.

Which pigment gives leaves their green color and is broken down in autumn, unmasking the others?

Chlorophyll, the green pigment, is broken down into colourless compounds as the tree reclaims its nitrogen and magnesium, letting the yellow and orange pigments beneath show through.

Which of these fruits is typically harvested during the autumn season?

Apples ripen from late summer into autumn; the fruit is a pome, and much of the North American crop is pressed into cider, the season's traditional drink.

Which insect migrates each autumn from across North America to a few mountain forests in central Mexico, thousands of kilometres away?

The entire eastern monarch butterfly population overwinters in so few Mexican trees that it is measured in hectares; it nearly doubled to 1.8 hectares in the 2024-25 winter.

During which Jewish autumn harvest festival, called the Festival of Ingathering in the Torah, do families eat meals in a temporary hut?

Sukkot's hut, the sukkah, recalls the shelters of the Exodus; the Torah calls the festival the Festival of Ingathering, marking the end of the agricultural year in the Land of Israel.

Which of these holidays is widely celebrated in autumn, particularly on October 31st?

Halloween, 31 October, is the eve of All Hallows' Day and overlaps the old Gaelic quarter day Samhain, kept from 31 October to 1 November in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man.

What term describes a spell of unseasonably warm, dry weather in late autumn?

An Indian summer is a hazy, warm, dry spell in late autumn; in parts of Europe the same weather is called St Martin's summer, after the saint's day on 11 November.

Which East Asian holiday, held on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, is celebrated with mooncakes?

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also called the Moon Festival, falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, usually in September or early October, when families share mooncakes under the full moon.

Which genus, tapped for syrup in spring, is famous for red, orange, and yellow autumn foliage?

Maples, tapped for syrup in early spring, run from bright yellow through orange to fluorescent red in autumn, and single trees often colour unevenly.

In Vivaldi's Four Seasons, the slow movement of 'Autumn' carries a marking describing what?

The Adagio of 'Autumn' is marked 'Ubriachi dormienti', sleeping drunkards: the grape-harvest revellers of the first movement doze off. The set was published in Amsterdam in 1725.

Candy corn dates to the 1880s, when most Americans lived on farms; under what farm-themed name was it first sold?

Candy corn was first sold as 'Chicken Feed', since most Americans then lived on farms and corn was what you fed the birds; Goelitz, the forerunner of Jelly Belly, began making it in 1898.

What was missing from Starbucks' spiced autumn latte recipe from its 2003 launch until 2015?

Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte launched in 2003 without any real pumpkin; after years of complaints the chain added pumpkin puree to the sauce in 2015.

Which Roman goddess of fruit trees and orchards is linked to Halloween's apple customs?

Pomona was the Roman goddess of fruit trees and orchards, her name from pomum, 'fruit'; 19th-century folklorists tied apple-bobbing and other Halloween apple games to her harvest rites.

Which US president made the Thanksgiving turkey pardon an official annual tradition in 1989?

Turkeys had been presented to presidents since Truman, but Bush was the first to make sparing the bird a fixed part of the ceremony. The story of Lincoln pardoning his son's turkey only surfaced after his death.

Who skips trick-or-treating to wait in the pumpkin patch in 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown'?

The special first aired on CBS in October 1966. Charlie Brown, meanwhile, ends the night with a bag full of rocks.

Which character always appears at the very end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade?

Santa Claus has closed the Macy's parade since its first year, 1924, with a single early exception when he led it; in the late 1920s the balloons were released into the sky afterwards, with a reward for whoever found them.

Which sport's championship is nicknamed the 'Fall Classic'?

The World Series, baseball's championship, has been played each autumn since 1903 except in 1904 and 1994; the New York Yankees had won it a record 27 times through 2025.

The very first Oktoberfest, in 1810, was held to celebrate what?

Munich threw the party on 12 October 1810 for the royal wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig, the future King Ludwig I of Bavaria; the citizens were invited to festivities on the meadows outside the city gates.

Why do apples float when you go bobbing for them on Halloween?

Apples float because they are less dense than water, so they bob at the surface just out of reach. The game is played on Halloween and Bonfire Night, and Roman-era versions supposedly told who would marry first.

Farmers flood their bogs to harvest cranberries because the ripe berries do what?

Ripe cranberries float to the surface because each berry holds four small air pockets; once a harvester knocks them loose the floating fruit is corralled and pumped out, mostly between September and early November.

According to American folklore, the woolly bear caterpillar's brown band predicts what?

Folklore holds the woolly bear's brown band shows how severe the coming winter will be: wide means mild, narrow means harsh. Banner Elk, North Carolina, races the caterpillars at its October Woolly Worm Festival, and the winner makes the forecast.

Since 2007, daylight saving time in the United States ends on which day?

Since 2007 US daylight saving time has ended on the first Sunday of November; the Energy Policy Act of 2005 pushed the change a week later than the old last Sunday of October.

What term names the night-time restlessness caged songbirds show in the migration seasons?

Zugunruhe, German for 'migratory restlessness', is the fluttering and hopping caged songbirds show at night in spring and autumn; Gustav Kramer used it in the 1950s to show that birds orient by the sun.

Guy Fawkes, remembered every 5 November, was caught guarding explosives beneath which building?

Fawkes was found in the early hours of 5 November 1605 in the undercroft beneath the House of Lords with 36 barrels of gunpowder, ready for the state opening of Parliament that day.

What do British farms call the seasonal attraction of paths cut through a field of tall corn?

The Guinness record for the largest temporary crop maze is 65.8 acres, cut in La Pocatière, Québec in 2022. The first full-size US corn maze is usually credited to Annville, Pennsylvania in 1993.

In the Southern Hemisphere, autumn begins in which month?

Seasons are reversed south of the equator, so autumn begins in March: on the 1st by the meteorological convention or around the 20th at the equinox, while Europeans watch spring blossom.

Which US holiday is informally treated as the end of summer and start of autumn?

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, informally closes the American summer; old etiquette even frowned on wearing white after it.

Under the East Asian solar-term system, autumn starts around the 8th of which month?

Liqiu, 'start of autumn', falls around 7-8 August; the East Asian solar terms put the season far earlier than Western astronomical autumn, with winter beginning around 7 November.

What does the Irish name for September, Meán Fómhair, literally mean?

Mean Fomhair means 'middle of autumn', fomhar being harvest or autumn; October is Deireadh Fomhair, 'end of autumn', reflecting the old Gaelic reckoning in which autumn began in August.

Which ancient civilization's root word 'autu-', linked to the passing year, may underlie 'autumn'?

The word entered English via Latin autumnus and Old French autompne.

Which W. B. Yeats poem uses the maturing autumn season as a symbol of the poet's own ageing?

'The Wild Swans at Coole' (1917) opens 'The trees are in their autumn beauty'; counting the swans nineteen years after his first visit, Yeats measures his own ageing against their undimmed vigour.

Which French poet wrote the sorrowful 'Chanson d'automne'?

Paul Verlaine published 'Chanson d'automne' in Poemes saturniens (1866); its opening lines, 'Les sanglots longs des violons de l'automne', were broadcast by the BBC in June 1944 as a coded signal to the French Resistance before D-Day.

On which day does Canada celebrate Thanksgiving?

Canada's Thanksgiving has fallen on the second Monday of October since a 1957 proclamation; the harvest comes earlier there than in New England, hence the earlier date.

Which African country, alongside Canada and the US, celebrates Thanksgiving Day?

Liberia's founding by freed American slaves explains the shared holiday.

Which Iranian festival marks the beginning of autumn?

Mehregan, held on the 16th day of the month of Mehr in early October, is the ancient Persian autumn festival honouring Mithra; in pre-Islamic times it was also the season when taxes were collected.

Which Hindu goddess of learning is known as Sharada, 'goddess of autumn'?

Saraswati, goddess of learning and the arts, bears the epithet Sharada, 'she of autumn', and is worshipped on the closing days of the autumn Navaratri in many regions of India.

In Chinese five-element theory, autumn is associated with which element?

In Chinese five-phase (wuxing) theory autumn belongs to Metal, along with the west, the colour white, the White Tiger and the emotion of grief.

Which part of New Zealand is noted for coloured autumn foliage?

The South Island, especially Central Otago towns such as Arrowtown and Wanaka, is New Zealand's leaf-peeping country; Patagonia's forests and eastern Australia also draw leaf-watchers south of the equator.

What TV term describes shows that debut outside the autumn launch window?

Mid-season replacements are shows slotted in from January onward after an autumn series fails; North American networks traditionally launch their new seasons in late September or early October.

Which two Christian holy days fall in Northern Hemisphere autumn on 1 and 2 November?

Halloween is the eve of the first of these feasts.

Roughly what share of temperate tree species produce red anthocyanin pigments?

About 10% of temperate tree species make anthocyanins; in northern New England the figure rises to as much as 70%, which explains its fiery displays.

What is the zone of special cork cells that forms at a leaf's base before it drops?

The abscission layer is a band of cork-like cells at the base of the leaf stalk; as it thickens, water and minerals are cut off, and the leaf finally breaks away.

What weather produces the brightest autumn colours?

Bright cool days and chilly, non-freezing nights give the best colour: sunlight drives sugar production in the leaf, cool nights trap the sugars there, and they are turned into red anthocyanins; hard frost kills the leaf before it can colour.

Which compounds, left behind as other pigments break down, give oak leaves their brown autumn colour?

Tannins, the bitter compounds that also make oak bark useful for curing leather, remain in the leaf after chlorophyll and carotenoids degrade, giving oaks and beeches their russet-brown autumn foliage.

Which evolutionary biologist proposed in 2001 that red autumn leaves warn off aphids?

W. D. Hamilton, with Sam Brown, published the idea in 2001: bright autumn leaves are a costly, honest signal of a tree's chemical defences, warning aphids to lay their eggs elsewhere.

Which theory says anthocyanins shield leaves so trees can reabsorb nitrogen more efficiently?

The photoprotection hypothesis holds that anthocyanins act as a sunscreen for senescing leaves: without them, photo-oxidation at low temperatures hampers the recovery of nitrogen from dying leaves.

Which common plant has bright-red autumn foliage that draws birds to its off-white seeds?

Poison ivy's leaves turn scarlet in early autumn, a 'fruit flag' that draws birds to its waxy off-white berries; birds eat them unharmed and spread the seeds, while the plant's urushiol oil gives humans a rash.

Which 'living fossil' tree turns butter-yellow and sheds nearly all its fan-shaped leaves at once?

Ginkgo biloba, a 'living fossil' with relatives in the Jurassic, turns a uniform butter yellow and then drops almost all its fan-shaped leaves together, often within a day or two of the first hard frost.

What traditional name is given to the September equinox point on the celestial sphere?

The First Point of Libra is the traditional name for the September equinox point; precession carried it out of Libra around 730 BCE, but the name stuck, as did the First Point of Aries for the March point.

In which constellation has the September equinox point lain since about 730 BCE?

Precession carried the September equinox point from Libra into Virgo around 730 BCE, where it remains until it crosses into Leo in the 25th century.

The September equinox marked New Year's Day in which revolutionary system of dating?

The French Republican Calendar began its Year I on 22 September 1792, the autumnal equinox, and each new year was fixed to the equinox as observed in Paris.

What is Japan's public holiday on the autumnal equinox called?

Buddhist Higan observances also fall around both equinoxes in Japan.

Which two alternative names does the harvest moon go by?

The harvest moon is also called the barley moon and the full corn moon, after the crops gathered under it; it is the full moon nearest the equinox, within two weeks either side.

What name is given to the full moon after the harvest one?

The hunter's moon follows the harvest moon, and the name is older than you'd think: the Oxford English Dictionary traces it to a 1710 edition of The British Apollo.

Near which Indiana city has the Feast of the Hunters' Moon been held since 1968?

The Feast of the Hunters' Moon is held at Fort Ouiatenon, just outside West Lafayette on the Wabash, recreating the 1700s gatherings of French traders and Native Americans at the trading post.

By roughly how many minutes does moonrise shift later each day on average?

Moonrise comes about 50 minutes later each day on average, because the Moon moves roughly 13 degrees eastward along its orbit daily; around the harvest moon at mid-latitudes the delay shrinks to 25-30 minutes, giving farmers extra evening light.

What early British festival at the start of harvest took its name from 'loaf Mass'?

Lammas, from Old English hlafmaesse, 'loaf mass', fell on 1 August: farmers baked loaves from the new wheat and brought them to church to be blessed.

What was the Scots name for the harvest-home feast held when the last corn was cut?

The kirn was the Scots harvest-home feast held once the last corn was cut; the final handful of stalks, the kirn or kirn-dolly, was plaited and kept in the farmhouse over winter.

Which Ethiopian people celebrate the harvest thanksgiving festival Irreecha?

Irreecha is the Oromo people's thanksgiving festival, held at the end of the rainy season, chiefly at Lake Hora Arsadi in Bishoftu, where celebrants carry fresh grass and flowers to the water.

At which Persian capital was the harvest festival Mehrgan celebrated in extravagant style?

Under the Achaemenids Mehregan was kept at Persepolis, the ceremonial capital founded by Darius I; visitors from across the empire brought gifts for the king as taxes were collected.

Which Indian harvest festival, big in Kerala, falls at the turn of summer into autumn?

Onam is Kerala's great harvest celebration; Pongal and Lohri fall in January.

Which dynasty fell, according to legend, after rebels passed messages hidden in mooncakes?

Legend says Zhu Yuanzhang's rebels hid notes in mooncakes to coordinate the uprising that toppled the Mongol Yuan dynasty in 1368, after which Zhu founded the Ming.

What is the Japanese variant of the Mid-Autumn Festival called?

Tsukimi, 'moon viewing', is Japan's harvest-moon festival: people set out pampas grass and round tsukimi dango dumplings and watch the full moon of the eighth lunar month.

By what alternative name is the Mid-Autumn celebration known in Vietnam?

In Vietnam Tet Trung Thu is also called the Children's Festival: children parade with star lanterns, watch lion dances and receive toys, and most of its songs are sung by them.

Whose legend underpins the Mid-Autumn celebration?

Chang'e, the Moon goddess, underpins the festival: in the legend she swallowed an elixir of immortality and floated to the moon, where she lives with the jade rabbit, and families offer mooncakes to her under the full moon.

What is Chuseok's alternative name Hangawi said to mean?

Hangawi is said to mean 'the great middle of autumn', from han, 'great', and gawi, 'middle'; Chuseok itself literally means 'autumn evening'.

Which crescent-shaped rice cake is the signature food of Korea's Chuseok?

Songpyeon are half-moon rice cakes filled with sesame, beans, chestnut or honey and steamed over pine needles, which give them their name (song means pine).

What competition is Chuseok popularly said to have originated from during the Silla kingdom?

Chuseok is popularly traced to gabae, a month-long weaving contest under King Yuri of Silla: two teams of women wove for a month, and the losers treated the winners to a feast on the 15th of the eighth month.

How long is the Chuseok holiday in South Korea?

South Korea's Chuseok holiday runs three days, the full-moon day plus the days either side, sometimes stretched by substitute holidays; North Korea marks only the day itself.

Which newspaper supplies the earliest known citation of 'leaf peeper', from 1966?

The Bennington Banner, a Vermont daily, supplies the Oxford English Dictionary's earliest citation for 'leaf peeper', from 1966.

What is the Japanese term for hunting autumn leaves?

Momijigari, 'red-leaf hunting', is the Japanese custom of going out to admire autumn foliage; it dates to the Heian period and centres on Japanese maples, with ginkgo a close second.

What do Finns call an outing made to admire the autumn colours?

Ruskaretki combines ruska, the Finnish word for autumn foliage colour, with retki, 'trip'; Lapland's fells draw crowds for ruska in September.

What do Japanese forecasters call the southward-moving line of peak autumn colour?

Koyo zensen, the 'autumn-leaf front', is the line of peak colour that forecasters track as it moves south from Hokkaido in September to Kyushu by late November, mirroring the spring cherry-blossom front.

By the traditional New England definition, a true Indian summer comes only after what?

By the traditional New England definition, a true Indian summer comes only after the first killing frost; the warm, hazy spell then lasts a few days before winter sets in.

Which writer's essay from around 1778 holds the earliest known use of 'Indian summer'?

His essay was first published in French around 1788.

In Henry IV, Part 1, Prince Hal mocks the ageing Falstaff with which late-warm-spell nickname?

Prince Hal bids Falstaff 'farewell, All-hallown summer', a warm spell around All Hallows' Day on 1 November; the phrase predates 'Indian summer' by nearly two centuries.

On which day of September is Michaelmas observed in Western churches?

It was one of the four English quarter days when accounts and rents fell due.

What bird was traditionally eaten at Michaelmas to guarantee money all year?

The 'stubble-goose' was fattened on the fields after harvest.

Which October-flowering bulb yields the world's most expensive spice?

The saffron crocus, Crocus sativus, flowers in October; each purple bloom holds three red stigmas that must be picked by hand, and well over 100,000 flowers go into a kilogram of saffron.

In Irish folklore, clear weather on Michaelmas foretold what?

The rhyme runs 'Michaelmas Day be bright and clear, there will be two Winters in the year.'

What is the Welsh equivalent of the Gaelic autumn festival Samhain?

Calan Gaeaf, 'the first day of winter', is the Welsh counterpart of Samhain, with Nos Galan Gaeaf, its eve on 31 October, held to be a night when spirits roamed.

Why do Samhain celebrations begin on the evening of 31 October?

Because the Celtic day began and ended at sunset, the festival of 1 November opened on the evening of 31 October; Samhain sits roughly halfway between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice.

Which two foods featured heavily in Samhain divination games?

Apple bobbing and nut-burning fortune games survived into modern Halloween.

What is the Manx name for Samhain?

The Isle of Man kept the festival alongside Ireland and Scotland.

What is the structure of Keats's 'To Autumn'?

'To Autumn' has three stanzas of eleven lines each, one more than the ten-line stanzas of Keats's other 1819 odes; they track the season from ripening to harvest to winter's approach.

Near which English city did Keats take the walk that inspired 'To Autumn'?

Keats was lodging in Winchester in September 1819 and walked daily past the cathedral and through the water meadows to St Cross; some critics read the poem as a response to that summer's Peterloo Massacre.

Who composed the melody of 'Les Feuilles mortes', later known as 'Autumn Leaves'?

Jacques Prévert wrote the French words; Johnny Mercer added English lyrics in 1950.

Whose instrumental 'Autumn Leaves' topped the US Billboard chart in 1955?

Roger Williams's cascading-piano arrangement of 'Autumn Leaves' reached number one on the Billboard chart in late 1955, a rare feat for a piano instrumental.

Which singer introduced 'Les Feuilles mortes' in the 1946 film Les Portes de la nuit?

Yves Montand introduced 'Les Feuilles mortes' in Marcel Carne's 1946 film Les Portes de la nuit, and it became his signature song.

Which 1958 Cannonball Adderley album, with Miles Davis, opens with an eleven-minute 'Autumn Leaves'?

Cannonball Adderley's Somethin' Else (Blue Note, 1958) opens with a near-eleven-minute 'Autumn Leaves' on which Miles Davis, nominally the sideman, plays the melody, with Hank Jones on piano.

Who wrote both words and music of the 1934 standard 'Autumn in New York'?

Vernon Duke, born Vladimir Dukelsky, wrote both the lyric and the music of 'Autumn in New York' in 1934 for the revue Thumbs Up!; Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald both recorded it.

Which Greek goddess's abduction to the underworld explains the seasons in myth?

Persephone's abduction by Hades explains the seasons: her mother Demeter grieves while she is underground, and her return each year brings spring and growth.

What is the Roman name of Demeter's daughter, queen of the underworld?

Romans also identified her with the Italic goddess Libera.

Which seabird holds the long-distance migration record, commuting between polar breeding grounds and the Antarctic to enjoy two summers a year?

One tagged Arctic tern covered 96,000 km in ten months. Breeding in the Arctic and wintering off Antarctica, it lives through two summers every year.

Which bird makes the longest known non-stop flight, 11,000 km from Alaska to New Zealand?

The godwits fly for days without feeding or resting.

Which ancient thinker wrongly suggested that swallows hibernate rather than migrate?

Aristotle wrote in his History of Animals that swallows and other birds hibernate in holes; the idea lasted so long that Elliott Coues could catalogue 182 papers on swallow hibernation in 1878.

What primarily controls the timing of bird migration?

Changes in day length are the main cue: the shifting photoperiod triggers hormonal changes and fat deposition, after which birds navigate by the Sun, stars, magnetic field and landmarks.

What term describes the summer equivalent of hibernation?

Aestivation is summer dormancy, used by snails, lungfish and some desert tortoises to sit out heat and drought; brumation is the term sometimes used for reptiles' winter dormancy.

In which month do American black bears typically give birth inside the winter den?

American black bear cubs are born in the winter den in January, occasionally early February, blind and weighing under half a kilogram; the mother nurses them without eating until spring.

What term does Vermont use for the weeks after leaf-fall but before snow?

Stick season is Vermont's name for the bare, grey weeks between leaf-fall and the first lasting snow, usually November into early December; Noah Kahan's 2022 song 'Stick Season' took the phrase national.

In New England, which tree's leaves load up on anthocyanins each autumn, producing the reds and purples that fade south of Connecticut?

Sugar maple is the tree behind New England's postcard autumn; it packs its leaves with anthocyanin, the pigment that makes brilliant reds and purples. South of Connecticut, oaks take over and the colors dim.

Which two New England states have banned billboards, boosting their leaf-peeping appeal?

Vermont banned billboards in 1968 and Maine in 1977; Hawaii and Alaska are the only other states without them, and the uncluttered back roads make for the region's iconic autumn photographs.

Who first sold blended pumpkin pie spice commercially in 1934?

McCormick & Company put the first commercial 'pumpkin pie spice' blend on shelves in 1934; the mix is usually cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves, sometimes with allspice.

Which 1796 book, the first cookbook published in the US, gave a 'Pompkin' recipe with mace and nutmeg?

American Cookery (1796) by Amelia Simmons was the first cookbook written by an American and published in the US; its two 'Pompkin' pudding recipes, spiced with mace, nutmeg and ginger, laid the groundwork for pumpkin pie spice.

Which spice in the classic pumpkin-pie blend is the dried seed of a Myristica tree's fruit?

Nutmeg is the seed of Myristica fragrans, a tree native to Indonesia's Banda Islands; mace is the red aril around the same seed, while cinnamon is bark, cloves are flower buds and ginger is a rhizome.

Which Illinois town, home to a Libby's plant, calls itself the Pumpkin Capital of the World?

Morton, Illinois calls itself the Pumpkin Capital of the World: the Libby's plant there cans the bulk of America's canned pumpkin, and the town holds a Pumpkin Festival each September.

Where was the first full-size corn maze reportedly created in 1993?

A California ranch may have had one as early as 1989.

Which Russian poet's famously productive 'Boldino autumn' came in 1830?

Alexander Pushkin, stranded by a cholera quarantine at Boldino in autumn 1830, finished Eugene Onegin and wrote the Belkin tales; his 1833 poem 'Autumn' calls the season his favourite.

What Guinness record did a 2012 corn maze in Lacombe, Alberta earn?

The Kraay Family Farm at Lacombe, Alberta cut a 2012 maze that Guinness certified as the world's largest scannable QR code, about 7 acres that phones could read from the air.

Which apple variety was found as a chance seedling by a farmer in Ontario in 1811?

The McIntosh was found as a chance seedling by farmer John McIntosh at Dundela, Ontario, in 1811; Granny Smith came from Australia, Golden Delicious from West Virginia and Gala from New Zealand.

What are Halloween-season wagon rides with actors and special effects called?

Haunted hayrides are Halloween-season wagon rides, usually tractor-drawn through fields or woods, where costumed actors, props and lighting effects ambush the riders; Pennsylvania's Field of Screams in Mountville is one of the best known.

How long can acorns take to mature, depending on the oak species?

Acorns take 5 to 24 months to mature: white-oak acorns ripen in a single season, while red-oak acorns need two, so both generations hang on the tree at once; bumper crops boost rodent numbers.

Up to what share of a deer's autumn diet can be acorns?

Acorns can make up as much as 25% of a deer's autumn diet; in Spain pigs are turned loose in oak dehesas each autumn, the montanera, to fatten on them for Iberico ham.

Which animals can be poisoned by eating too many acorns?

Horses and cattle can be poisoned by a glut of acorns: the tannins damage their kidneys and gut, and autumn gales that drop green acorns into pastures cause most cases.

What is the collective term for acorns and other forest nuts?

Mast years bring great abundance for wildlife; lean years bring stress.

What is the spiny outer casing of a chestnut called?

Each bur can hold one to seven nuts and splits open when ripe.

Why are two chestnut trees needed to produce nuts?

All Castanea species also hybridize freely with one another.

What is North America's unfiltered sweet cider called in most of the rest of the world?

Outside North America the unfiltered sweet drink is simply cloudy apple juice, because elsewhere 'cider' means the alcoholic drink Americans call hard cider.

Which US state produced 59% of the nation's cranberries in 2021?

Wisconsin has led US cranberry production since the mid-1990s, growing roughly 60% of the crop in 2021 in the central sands around Wisconsin Rapids; Massachusetts is a distant second.

Which three countries grew 97% of the world's cranberries in 2020?

The United States grew over half the world's cranberries in 2020, with Canada second and Chile a distant third; most of the crop becomes juice, sauce and sweetened dried berries.

The name 'cranberry' comes from a resemblance of the flower to which bird?

The expanding flower, stem and petals resemble the neck, head and bill of a crane, hence 'craneberry', which missionary John Eliot first recorded in English in 1647.

Which flower is the Japanese imperial emblem and the traditional birth flower of November?

The chrysanthemum, whose name is Greek for 'gold flower', is the 16-petalled emblem of Japan's imperial family and the traditional birth flower of November, when it blooms.

The golden November bloom is one of the 'Four Gentlemen' in which art tradition?

It shares the honour with plum blossom, orchid and bamboo.

On the 15th of which Hebrew month does the autumn festival Sukkot begin?

Sukkot begins on 15 Tishrei, five days after Yom Kippur, and is one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals of the Torah along with Passover and Shavuot.

What is the plant-material roof of a sukkah called?

S'chach is the sukkah's roof of cut branches, reeds or bamboo, laid loosely enough to see the stars; symbolic guests called ushpizin, from Abraham to David, are welcomed on each of the seven days.

What is the name of the Munich meadow that hosts Oktoberfest?

It was named for Princess Therese, whose 1810 wedding started it all.

What phrase does Munich's mayor cry after tapping the first Oktoberfest keg?

'O'zapft is!', Bavarian for 'it's tapped!', has been the mayor's cry since Thomas Wimmer opened the 1950 festival; a twelve-gun salute follows and the beer may flow.

Roughly how many visitors did Oktoberfest draw in its record year, 2023?

Oktoberfest draws roughly six to seven million visitors over its 16 to 18 days; the 2023 edition set a record of about 7.2 million.

What event formed the core of the first Oktoberfests in 1810 and 1811?

Some 40,000 spectators watched thirty horses race a 3,400-metre course.

Which purity law must all beer sold at Oktoberfest comply with?

Oktoberfest beer must meet the Reinheitsgebot, the 1516 Bavarian purity law limiting ingredients to water, barley and hops, and be brewed within Munich's city limits by one of the six big breweries.

What does 'Dipavali', the Sanskrit source of 'Diwali', mean?

Dipavali means 'a row of lights', from Sanskrit dipa, 'lamp', and avali, 'row'; diyas, candles and lanterns light homes during the five-day autumn festival.

Which Sikh celebration coinciding with Diwali marks Guru Hargobind's release from prison?

Bandi Chhor Divas, 'day of liberation', recalls Guru Hargobind's 1619 release from Gwalior Fort with 52 Hindu princes, and the Golden Temple is lit for it; Jains mark Mahavira's liberation on the same festival.

Which magazine editor's long campaign preceded Lincoln's 1863 proclamation of a national Thanksgiving?

Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of Godey's Lady's Book, wrote to five presidents urging a national Thanksgiving before Lincoln proclaimed one in 1863, fixing it on the final Thursday in November.

What nickname did critics give FDR's 1939 move of Thanksgiving a week earlier?

'Franksgiving' was the press's jab at Franklin Roosevelt's 1939 shift of Thanksgiving a week earlier to lengthen the Christmas shopping season; Congress settled it in 1941, fixing the fourth Thursday of November from 1942.

Which explorer's 1578 voyage is credited by some as North America's first Thanksgiving?

Martin Frobisher's 1578 expedition, searching for the Northwest Passage, held a service of thanksgiving for safe arrival in what is now Nunavut, which some call North America's first Thanksgiving.

What medieval Allhallowtide custom of sharing cakes is a suggested origin of trick-or-treating?

Souling saw the poor go door to door at Allhallowtide singing for soul cakes in return for prayers for the dead; Shakespeare alludes to it in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, 'puling like a beggar at Hallowmas'.

From which language's form of 'All Hallows' Eve' does the word Halloween come?

Halloween is the Lowland Scots contraction of 'All Hallows' Even', 'even' being Scots for evening (shortened to e'en); the form was popularised by Robert Burns's 1785 poem 'Halloween'.

In which year did the Frankish Empire officially adopt 1 November as All Saints' Day?

In 835 Emperor Louis the Pious, at the urging of Pope Gregory IV, ordered 1 November kept as All Saints' Day throughout the Frankish Empire; churches in Ireland and Northumbria were already keeping the feast on that date by 800.

What was Guy Fawkes Night known as in the American colonies?

Pope Day (or Pope Night) was the colonial American version, with effigies of the pope paraded and burned in Boston; Washington banned it in the army in 1775 and it died out with the Revolution.

Which 1605 Act made 5 November an annual day of thanksgiving in England?

The Observance of 5th November Act 1605, passed in January 1606, ordered annual church thanksgiving for the plot's failure; Gunpowder Treason Day soon became England's main state commemoration, and the act stood until 1859.

Which two English towns became famous for violent 19th-century Bonfire Night confrontations?

Lewes and Guildford both saw riotous 19th-century Bonfire Nights, Guildford's 'Guy riots' ending only after troops were called in the 1860s; Lewes's bonfire societies, founded from 1853, carry the tradition on peacefully.

Which orange flower decorates Day of the Dead altars?

Cempazúchitl, the Mexican marigold (Tagetes erecta), covers ofrendas and the paths to them because its scent and bright orange are believed to guide the dead home; ofrendas also hold the favourite foods and drinks of the departed.

In which year did UNESCO add the Day of the Dead to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list?

UNESCO inscribed Mexico's 'Indigenous festivity dedicated to the dead' on its Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2008, having first proclaimed it a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage in 2003.

What are the humorous mock epitaphs written for living friends on the Day of the Dead called?

Calaveras literarias, 'literary skulls', are rhyming mock epitaphs that tease living friends or politicians with their imagined deaths; they date to 19th-century newspapers and pair with sugar skulls and pan de muerto.

What was the record weight for a pumpkin set in October 2023?

Travis Gienger's pumpkin weighed in at 2,749 lb (1,246.9 kg) at the Half Moon Bay weigh-off on 9 October 2023, a world record; ordinary Cucurbita pepo pumpkins weigh just 3 to 8 kilograms.

What type of fruit, botanically, is a pumpkin?

Botanically a pumpkin is a pepo, a berry with a hard rind and many seeds in a fleshy interior, the same fruit type as cucumbers and melons.

Where were the oldest pumpkin fragments, dated 7,000-5,500 BC, found?

The oldest pumpkin seeds, dated 7,000-5,500 BC, were found in Mexico, in the Guilá Naquitz cave in Oaxaca; pumpkins later grew alongside maize and beans in the Three Sisters planting method.

What earlier English word, meaning any edible gourd, did 'pumpkin' come from?

'Pompion', from French pompon and ultimately Greek pepon, 'large melon', was the English word for any edible gourd before colonists added the -kin suffix; an alternative theory credits the Massachusett word pôhpukun, 'grows forth round'.

Which two US states do not observe daylight saving time and its autumn 'fall back'?

Hawaii and Arizona keep standard time all year; within Arizona the Navajo Nation does change its clocks, while the Hopi Reservation inside it does not.

Which New Zealand entomologist made the first realistic proposal to shift clocks, in 1895?

George Hudson, a Wellington entomologist who wanted more daylight for collecting insects after work, proposed a two-hour seasonal shift to the Wellington Philosophical Society in 1895; Franklin's 1784 essay had only joked about waking earlier.

As of 2023, roughly what share of the world's countries use daylight saving time?

As of 2023 roughly a third of the world's countries, about 34%, used daylight saving time, concentrated in Europe and North America; most of Asia and Africa never adopted it or dropped it.