Happy autumnal equinox. The first day of Fall.  I know of no good sailor’s tradition for the autumnal equinox. It seems to be too busy a time to stop for such foolishness.  Everyone is trying to get the last trips of the season in or is already getting ready for winter.  In the Northeast, I always wondered why I didn’t have at least as much sense as the geese, who were all flying south to warmer climes.

I would like to suggest an autumnal equinox tradition of putting on warm socks. There is a sailor’s ritual of burning one’s socks at the vernal equinox socks, presumably the socks one wore all winter. (See: Spring equinox – Sailors burn their socks)  Putting on a warmer pair now, has a certain seasonal symmetry.  If anyone has other, and no doubt better, autumnal equinox traditions I would love to hear of them.

All sailors should be watching the sky this afternoon and evening. NASA’s Upper Atmosphere Research satelitte, about the size of a bus and weighs 6.5 tons is expected to plunge to earth sometime this afternoon or early evening Eastern time.  NASA isn’t sure where it will land but thinks that it will miss North America. Odds are that the space junk will land in the ocean.  (UPDATE: 2:PM EST –  NASA now thinks that it may land in North America after all.)  Let us hope that crashing satelittes do not become an equinox tradition.  To have a satellite fall on the first day of Fall seems wholly unnecessary.