In time, a people and their culture come to resemble the land they live on and the climate around them more than anything else. I state that as a truism that seems to hold very well through history. Athens was a stable democracy as long as the wheat production went well, but descended into anarchy when the crops went badly. Sparta was comparatively rocky and always had poor yields, so the culture became one that stole from outsiders but valued order internally. Athens and Sparta were close together, but had very different pieces of land they inhabited.

In Minnesota, climate plays a bigger role than usual around the Autumnal Equinox. As we approach equal day and night, the rate of change is at its highest. We wake up in the dark again, and have less evening light as well. The weather becomes unsettled, changing as much as 20F from one day to the next. People are miserable – everyone is under a cloud right now as they trudge through their life.

Very few people seem to understand the importance of this as they try to make their way through their daily life. The kids are back in school, which is reason enough to drag along. But the excitement of the first day is now a long, slow grind through the motions.

Eventually, this wears on a people. The anticipation of Winter is what has registered in our minds, as is the story of the Grasshopper and the Ant. The joy of Summer is replaced by a realization that we have a ton of work to do, and only so much daylight and energy to do it.

Autumn is what makes a Minnesota. Preparing for dread is matched by the wonder as the colors of the world around us change. Society is all about bucking each other up to do what we know has to be done, and how much lighter things can be if we work together. Winter is something to be endured, but Autumn is for work. In an earlier day, we’d finish bringing in the crops this time of year as well.

People often wonder why we do things a bit differently in Minnesota, and why we seem to have a deep and wide streak of “socialism”. To me, it comes down to the Autumnal Equinox, and the realization that when everything is in balance it is actually changing the most. Our climate doesn’t offer us any lengthy comfort, so we have to find it in each other. We’ll get out of this weather and light induced funk and get back together. That’s what makes Winter so fun at times.