Autumn always feels like the “spiritual” season of the year.

From September through the end of December nearly every week there’s an important holiday to observe.  Some of the Fall holidays are religious, others are secular, but many of both kinds are spiritually significant to me and to Unitarian Universalists generally.

Labor Day marks the end of summer.  Although mostly observed with a day off and a barbeque (I got invited to a pool party this year), Labor Day also speaks to the value of meaningful work, and issues of economic justice.

Ingathering is our own UU Holiday, marking the annual re-gathering of our spiritual community.  Many churches celebrate the day with a “Water Communion” again, a UU ritual of our own.

The equinox is the true beginning of Autumn.  It connects us to the movements of the earth and sun, and to creating balance in our lives.  The equinox holiday is called Mabon in some pagan traditions.  We switch now into a psychic space of harvesting our earlier work and feeling gratitude for the gifts that come to us from beyond our own work.

The High Holy Days of Judaism are important to me.  Rosh Hashanah is another New Year to celebrate, and we can always use another opportuntity for a fresh start.  We cast off the past and look toward the future.  Yom Kippur is somber.  An honest, personal and communal, reckoning of where we fell short last year in our effort to be the best people we can be and we make new commitments to try again in the coming year.

The end of October and beginning of November, bring together a cluster of holidays from several cultures making us mindful of mortality and through memory and honor making continued connections with loved ones who have died.

Another autumn holiday you might not be aware of is Reformation Sunday, the last Sunday in October, marking the day Martin Luther started the Protestant Reformation by nailing his 95 thesis to the church door in Wittenburg, an event which eventually led to our own Unitarian Universalist tradition.

November often includes an election day, which ought to be a holiday for a faith that includes democracy as one of our core values.  Veteran’s Day invites spiritual reflection on war and peace, and the sacrifices required sometimes in life.

At the end of Autumn we arrive at the holidays the retail world calls “The Holidays”.  Thanksgiving is a secular holiday with profound spiritual meaning.   Then the winter solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas, and the calendar New Year.

As we focus on spiritual practice during worship this fall, we will also mark many of these holidays and others as they arrive.  Whichever holidays you celebrate, see if you can connect to a deeper spiritual meaning.  The decorations and the fun are important, too.  But let the holidays question you, maybe challenge you.  As you mark the holidays, let them put their mark on you, as well.