Autumnal poetry featuring a peacock butterfly on a flower by Silva Wischeropp

Yellow wildflowers photographed in the nature reserve, alongside a magnificent peacock butterfly bathed in the play of autumn light, create an enchanting atmosphere in all living rooms and bedrooms.
I discovered this nature scene on 16 October 2018 during the sunny afternoon hours. The photograph was taken with a NIKON D90 (lens: NIKKOR 80.0–200.0 mm f/2.8).

In Anglo-American usage, ‘Indian summer’ refers to the period of weather or the time of year in autumn. The phenomenon of leaves changing colour is known as ‘fall foliage’ or, more simply, ‘foliage’, derived from the Middle English word ‘foliage’ (meaning ‘leaf’), which in turn is derived from the Latin ‘folium’. Another colloquial term associated with this is ‘leaf peeping’, which refers to following, observing and photographing the changing colours of the leaves.

The etymology of ‘Indian Summer’ remains unclear, although various speculative theories are circulating in the literature – and even more so on the internet. The term could, for example, be derived from the main hunting season of the North American Indigenous peoples in autumn, or from the favourable weather conditions that facilitated raids on colonial settlers before the onset of winter.

The Iroquois tell the legend of the hunt for the Great Bear. Every autumn, two hunters pursue the Great Bear, whose magical power carries him high into the sky. Yet the tireless hunters and their dog follow him there too and bring him down after a long chase. The bear’s blood drips onto the earth and turns the leaves of the maple tree red. If you look up at the sky, you can see the Great Bear (the trapezium formed by four stars in the constellation Ursa Major) and, close behind it, the two hunters and their dog (the three stars of the Handle).