Passion for the Past: Celebrating Autumn With Family Traditions

Most often I write in Passion for the Past about daily life of long ago.

But how about daily life of today?

Yep - - this particular post is to show how this modern day family (who's patriarch - moi! - is a living historian) keeps the past and many of its traditions alive in 2023 in our own way of celebrating this

special time of year.

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Experiencing Autumn and Harvest time...

Did you know that before the words “autumn” or “fall” (from the late Middle Ages) were used to describe the season we are upon, “harvest” or “harvest time” (or "hærf-est" in Old English) was the verb/noun used ? Old English Harvest/Haerf-est meant "autumn" (the season), "harvest-time," or "August."

Though I have sprinkled history throughout today's post, it isn't necessarily about history, per se', but, rather, how I've incorporated the past into the present. You see, I'm all about tradition and traditions. Whether carrying on a family tradition for 50+ years or relatively newer ones, I'm usually all in. So let's begin our celebration and traditions, old and new, with what many Americans consider the gateway from summer to fall: Labor Day Weekend. Often considered the last of the Summer holidays - or the first of the Autumn holidays - this weekend holds many of the traditions that are near and dear to me. For instance, my wife and I began a new one last year - - or should I say, modified an old tradition.

It was on the Friday of Labor Day Weekend, September 1st, that Patty & I ventured north to Frankenmuth. We've tried to take an annual fall trip to "Michigan's Little Bavaria," for literally decades. It's only about a 90 minute ride north of Detroit, but the sites & sounds are an ocean away! Okay, so it's not exactly like Bavaria in Germany, but that's where its roots lie.

Frankenmuth is known for three main things:

1) It's Bavarian look and feel

2) It's delicious chicken

3) Christmas

Labor Day Weekend - Friday, September 1st, at Frankenmuth
Enjoying our chicken dinner!

We used to go every October, but that month has become such a busy time for us that since last year we've been going on the Friday of Labor Day Weekend. It's not nearly as busy because most other Michiganians usually head to their lake cottages, and since we no longer have a family cottage, we've had to look for other fun ways to fill out our Holiday Weekend.

Labor Day Weekend - Friday at Frankenmuth
Proud of our state - "Pure Michigan"

Labor Day Weekend - Friday at Frankenmuth
Frankenmuth is also known for its fudge!
Made right there in front of us, along with other
chocolate treats!

Frankenmuth is also home to Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland, a retail store that promotes itself as the "World's Largest Christmas Store."

And it is amazingly gigantic with all things Christmas - the variety of Christmas decorations they have for sale is astounding; some are chintzy, some gaudy, some no better than "Dollar Store" quality, though most items are beautiful, often unusual, collectible, quality keepsakes, such as what we purchased here:

Yes, I am a Christian, but I am a historian as well, and these two figurine-type collectibles show life during the time of Christ. I've been reading books on the B.C. and early A.D.-era in our world's history, so this happens to show well that part of the past.
Yep - - bought at Bronner's!
And plan to get more~

Since we no longer have a family cottage to go to, our Labor Day Saturday was a stay-at-home day for us, and Patty decided to do some spinning on her wheel:

Labor Day Saturday and what does my wife do?
She spins on her spinning wheel!

It was also on this Saturday that a very cool antique pewter plate made in 1740 arrived in the mail~

I purchased it off a reputable antique dealer recommended to me by a friend.

Yes, I am pleased.

That's the plate on the left from 1740 that was delivered on Saturday, September 2nd.
Next to the plate is a pewter porringer from 1769,
and at the top is a candle stick from 1757.
My friend, Brian, commented: "You’re now a bonafide 18th century antique collector!"

New traditions mixed with history...

It wasn't very long ago that at this time of year, farmers would have been busy in the fields from dawn 'til dusk, continuing what they've been doing since late July - harvesting crops. And when the crops came in, the farmers celebrated! I have been experiencing and celebrating, too, for most of my life.

As I recall, it was Labor Day Weekend 1973 when my father had our first family corn roast. Unfortunately, it's very doubtful that any of the few photos taken that night are still around. That first corn roast was quite different from what it has morphed into---it began with my Dad inviting cottage relatives and a few cottage neighbors over. It was such fun! What I remember most, besides the corn, was seeing my Uncle Mike Salamone dancing near the grill to The Crew Cuts "Sh-Boom (Life Could Be A Dream"). He was quite the dancer! And I remember most of those who were there, too.

So here we are, fifty years later in this year of 2023 - the 50th anniversary:

And we are still celebrating the Labor Day Sunday annual Corn Roast!

Soaking the corn before placing it on the grill...

Labor Day Sunday
Sweet corn roasting on an open fire...
That's my niece's husband on the right.

Labor Day Sunday
My wife and I~

Later in the evening we visited at our eldest son's place for a bonfire ~

Labor Day Sunday evening bonfire - - - -
our five grandchildren, ages eight to a few months, were there as well.
The celebration continues~

Labor Day Sunday
The evening sunset gave the clouds over my son's house a soft glow.

That brings us to Labor Day Monday, September 4th.

I proudly displayed two American Flags off my front porch for the holiday: the current stars-n-stripes, and the historic Gadsden Flag (from 1775).

Labor Day Monday
I proudly fly my Gadsden flag as well as the current American flag.
Buntings, too!

If you know me at all then you know I am always flying my American flags, usually of the historical variety. This year I chose to fly my Gadsden flag because it was, at that time, making national news:

Colorado Governor, Jared Polis, on Tuesday (August 29) responded to reports that a 12-year-old boy named Jaiden had been removed from class over a patch displaying the Gadsden flag, also known as the “Don’t Tread On Me Flag.”

The boy was barred from displaying the flag because school staff believed it to be associated with slavery and racism, according to video and emails published by Connor Boyack, a conservative author.

“The reason we do not want the flag displayed is due to its origins with slavery and the slave trade,” a woman says in a video that is purported to show a meeting between the boy’s family and staff at The Vanguard School, a charter school in Colorado Springs.

As news of the student’s ejection went viral, Gov. Jared Polis stepped in to defend the student and the flag. In a social-media post, Polis framed the Gadsden flag as a patriotic symbol rooted in the U.S. Revolution, not a hateful one.

“The Gadsden flag is a proud symbol of the American revolution and (an) iconic warning to Britain or any government not to violate the liberties of Americans,” he wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Polis also shared remarks about the controversy today, “I think it's great when kids express themselves in different ways as long as they're not creating a disruptive environment, certainly the Gadsden flag is a great iconic American flag, other kids have LGBT flags, others have flags of major political parties," he said.

And this is why history must be taught without an agenda - if you are a teacher, just teach what happened rather than expose biases to the school kids, for they may be just like this student and show you up.

So our much quieter than usual Labor Day Monday was spent at home, and our daughter came over for a visit.

Labor Day Monday and our daughter came over
to hang out with us.

Basically, Labor Day Monday was more relaxed. Usually I head to Greenfield Village on this day, but since I visited on Friday, I just stayed home and saved gas and gas money. Besides, this was a fine Labor Day Weekend as it was, both with activities and with weather.

Labor Day also means school is in session - or soon would be. In our neck of the woods, many schools started the following day, but for the first time in decades, I would not be there: I retired from working this past June (yes, old age is creeping up), leaving me more weekday time to do my own thing. One of those things will be to visit my place of solace and history, Greenfield Village, more often. I have scads of pretty good fall photos from those visits - enough to fill another blog post - and that's what I plan to do...write a separate post just on my autumn Greenfield Village visits.

Look for that one next.

However, I will throw in a couple of pictures taken when I visited that first Thursday in September: But first let's understand something:

Astronomical Fall - Fall doesn't officially begin until the autumn equinox, September 23 this year (2023), and ends on the winter solstice, between Dec. 20 and Dec. 22.

Meteorological fall begins on September 1st and includes the full months of September, October, and November and, though not technically fall for its first three weeks, has the look and feel of it.

The best way for me to explain the differences would be if someone asked you when each of the seasons occurs, how would you respond? Your answer may depend on whether you think of the seasons in a more traditional, or a more weather-related way.

My mind goes more along the lines of meteorological fall - "school starts in the fall" - I think most of us feel the same way.

Okay, so technically, September 7 is not fall...astronomical fall, that is.
However, it is meteorological fall!
Either way, it sure looks like the early part of autumn to me at the entrance gates to
Greenfield Village!

Again...technically it is still summer - September 7 - but fall was in the air.
The horse and carriage moves past the birthplace home of Henry Ford (1863).
It was restored to Ford's own memory to about 1876.

Over at the 18th century home Samuel Daggett built we find Roy working on the well sweep and Kirsten picking necessities for their dinner meal from the kitchen garden.

As I said, I have an entire blog post in the works featuring my late summer / early fall visits to Greenfield Village coming up for the next posting.

Earlier I wrote of our long-time family tradition of the Labor Day Corn Roast, and how we have just celebrated its 50th year. It's nice to have traditions carried on...but this is not the only one stemming from my youth:

there is also apple picking!

Now apple picking is a sort of holiday for me. I begin planning it as early as mid-August - finding a date that can work for everyone...or, in the very least, most of us. So it is apple picking weekend that I work on my annual autumn decorating. For Christmas I go all out on the interior of my house, but for fall I love to do my porch. Fall is totally about the outdoors, so it is in this way that I can enjoy the sites of my favorite season every time I leave & return and even look out my door...and enjoy a bit of country in the city!

By mid-September I head to the local fruits and vegetables
market to purchase hay, gourds, and corn stalks.

I really love the look it gives, even on my suburban Detroit
front porch. What I really also enjoy is when a slight breeze blows
hearing the corn stalks rattle the leaves a bit.

And then it's off to pick apples. This tradition has carried on since I was a kid, over 50 years ago, and would go with my parents to Lexington Orchards. This was toward the very beginning of the cider mill craze that is stronger today than it has ever been. Every weekend from September through mid-November, thousands upon thousands of people, usually city folk, head to the country cider mills. There are cider mills of all shapes & sizes throughout the metro-Detroit area and beyond, all having different activities and experiences: some have those robotic hillbilly bears sitting on toilets telling bad jokes and playing string band music, some have haunted houses, petting farms, some might have a corn maze, nature trails, hayrides with bonfires at night, while others have basic apple picking and hay bales to climb; this last one with just the basics is the kind we like most.

So for the last ten years or so, this is the one we've been going to.
Pick some apples and maybe raspberries, climb hay bales, and enjoy cider & doughnuts.
They also have a small shop where you can buy maple syrup, honey, and other treats.

It's located about 45 minutes from where I live.
It was kind of cool that while we were there a guy drove up in his
1927 Model T truck, which actually added to our experience.

So this tradition that began with my parents that I still have fond memories of carried on when my now wife was still my girlfriend, and she & I would go pick apples as a date. We married and had children. Yep---apple picking every fall. Now we have grandchildren, and it continues. Look at the pictures below - three generations of us now go apple picking!

A tractor-pulled hayride brought us out to our favorite apple variety, the Macintosh.
It's a family affair, you know.

Ah...there 'tis.
The Macintosh were "discovered" in Ontario, Canada long about the 1790s...or the 1810s, depending on which book or site you get your information from. Either way, it is an old variety - heirloom! - and might have gone the way of so many other old-time apple varieties but remains popular to this day! Of course, they are a good eating apple as well as very good for baking...and cider.

And here are my grandchildren, carrying on the Giorlando tradition!
This makes me so very happy...

Ben picks his first of the season~

Eli - not quite old enough to pick just yet,
but he likes his apples!

Addy reaches for the best!

Liam is king of the haystack!

Remember those hay bales I mentioned?
Here they are! Filled with my wife & I and our five grandchildren!
I am holding the youngest, Evangeline, who was born in late May.
She's not quite ready to pick apples yet.

Two crates of apples and a bottle of pure Michigan maple syrup!

I do enjoy the look, feel, and smell of our back room during this time of year.
It has a sort of 18th century lived-in look!

You may recall when we bought our table last year. The hard wood and the more traditional shape & style is exactly what we wanted. For us it has worked out perfect!

My mom taught Patty how to bake apple pie, so now I can continue enjoying what I grew
up with. Even my kids don't care for pies made any other way!

Of course, we brought home cider & doughnuts!

Here we are - my family on apple picking day:
Three generations of us - - - four kids, two daughters-in-law, and five grandkids.
And there's Patty & I in the back.
We also had a sort of harvest feast with homemade bread, soup, chicken, and,
for dessert, apple pie from apples picked at our neighbor's tree---apple variety unknown!

Our next door neighbor's apple tree the day before our big excursion.
Patty couldn't wait lol

I am so-o-o blessed!

Now, you may be wondering about just what the plan is for them there apples! Well, I have to tell ya, during the first week of October my wife & I actually went back to the orchard and grabbed another half bushel full. Not only does Patty bake pies, but she also cans and makes apple sauce!

It's her "happy place" - - and, lucky for me, I get to enjoy it, too. Yes, I help her whenever she asks, but this is her thing.

Here are her (basic) steps:

Picking the apples...

...apples in the crate...

...a few of the specially chosen apples...

...peeling and cutting...

...cooking them down...

...puree-ing the apples...

...then cooking again, then pouring them
into the canning jars...

..."hot water bath"...

...seven jars so far getting the "hot water bath"...

...waiting for the "pop" of the lids as they cool down...

The wonderful smells emanating through our house was heaven. Between the apples in the crates, the pies, the sauce, and the canning - it just doesn't get any better!

I would say both of these long-time family traditions of the corn roast and apple picking can definitely be considered fall/harvest experiences and celebrations.

As of this writing, I haven't had my annual
family & friends candle dipping yet. The date I had
planned ended up being a total wash-out with an
all-day rain, so it is postponed
until probably sometime in November.
So here is a photo taken from last year's
gathering in my yard.

Yet, there's another tradition...one that is a bit more subtle but, to me, so important and still carried on at my house to this day. Perhaps one of the fondest of all my early memories are of my mother lighting candles as soon as Labor Day passed. It was like that holiday was the entry to fall, and she needed it to pass before she could light her tapers. That's where my love of candles came from.

And, yes, I do the same. In fact, I have annual candle-dipping gatherings where we make pure beeswax candles - lots of them!

But it is not only at my house that candles are dipped - a few of us reenactors also do this craft at our cabin living history excursions, and, as you can see in the picture below, we dress in our 18th century clothing to do so. Past meets present meets past.

18th century chandlers.

Another memory from my youth is as soon as my dad felt a nip in the evening air he would start lighting fires in our fireplace. Yes, the house I grew up in had two fireplaces. Imagine that!

Off the electric lights would go, with the only glow coming from candlelight and hearth light.

"Past" light.

Between the candles and the fireplaces, my love of history was fed to overflowing!

I like the idea that this tradition of lighting candles in the fall is still carried on in my own home; I very rarely light candles once the spring weather hits and remains. I suppose it's a sort of "absence makes the heart grow fonder" kind of thing. The waiting is the hardest part but once the wait is over, and Labor Day passes, fall colors begin to show, the sun's rays cast longer shadows, and bed covers are needed, out come the candles - especially while we eat dinner.

It is quite a nice tradition.

Autumn by candlelight.

The picture to the left here was taken early one morning, about 7:00, when the rising sun was on the horizon and the nighttime skies began to lighten.

You may note that my candle shows that it is obviously hand-dipped. Normally candles I dip are much straighter, but I must not have been paying too much attention with this one (lol).

Not long ago I had someone request to buy one of these candles from me, which normally is no big deal until you learn that the wicking is actually from linen thread made from flax: we planted the flax seeds, which we cared for as they grew, then harvested, combed, retted, dried, broke on the flax break, scutched on the scutching board, and hackled. From there the flax was spun into linen thread by my living history friend, Rebecca. The thread was then dipped in pure raw beeswax I acquired from a beekeeper friend. Newly dipped candles must set to dry for months - a sort of curing process.

By the way, each step of the process for these particular candles was done while wearing 18th century clothing. Yes, I am quite proud of that! So when someone inquired about purchasing this candle, I told him "$50." He scoffed and replied, "Fifty buck for a candle?" And I said, "For what it took me to make this candle, even that price is too cheap!"

Yeah...I probably wouldn't even sell it for fifty bucks!

As I wrote on Facebook when I posted this picture:

October 10

The baking pumpkin Patty grew in her garden...and the apple pie she made. Plus a few

of the apples we picked, the gourd I purchased, the candle I dipped,

and a few antiques we acquired, including the candle stick from 1757.

This picture sorta brings it all together, aside from corn.

So, as you can tell, I try to make the most out of this season, and include my family.

And pretty much always have.

I feel that for autumn, I can look back and see tradition, family, and history, all rolled into one...all mixed into the same pot. I pray that much of our traditions carry on into future generations. Perhaps I will live long enough to see my great-grandkids so they, too, will know - and perhaps experience - our long-time family traditions.

Until next time, see you in time.

:::::

If you are interested and would like to see how the Fall Harvest / Fall Flavors Weekends at Greenfield Village used to be, here are links to my blog postings.

2017 - I have Flavors/Harvest pictures, I just did not write a blog about it for some odd reason

2018

2019

2020 was the beginning of the end; they had small doses of harvest/flavors, but the end was in sight.