The change of seasons is an amazing time. It is not just a season of year, it is a state of nature and the soul.

‘The pre-winter period’ is one of the most beautiful and poetic concepts in the traditional (peasant) calendar. This is the period in nature when the golden autumn is over, the trees and bushes have lost their leaves and are ready for snow, but it has not yet fallen, meaning that winter has not yet arrived, and autumn continues; when it is already rather cold and puddles freeze over with a thin crust of ice in the mornings. Autumn is slowly fading away, and winter has not yet fully taken hold, and we notice this thin frost.

It is on these cloudy days that two seasons meet. Pre-winter begins in mid-October, usually from 15 to 25 October, and ends around 15-20 December, after which the winter season begins.

There is something crystalline and peaceful about this fragile and fleeting time. There are no bright autumn colours, fewer sounds. Nature gradually falls asleep, preparing for a long winter.

This season can be recognised by a number of characteristic signs. The temperature drops to zero degrees: it is no longer the coolness of autumn, but not yet the frost of winter. During the day the temperature may be slightly above zero, at night there may be light frosts.

The sun rarely appears, the sky is covered with a continuous veil of grey clouds, and daylight hours are becoming shorter. The leaves have almost completely fallen from the trees, exposing wet, dark trunks and branches. The ground is no longer covered with a colourful carpet of leaves (they have been blown away or beaten down by the rain) – the earth is bare, damp and seems almost black. Nature is entering a period of calm. The birds have flown away, the insects have hidden or disappeared. There is a special, loud silence, broken only by the sound of the wind.

The snow has not yet fallen, but the autumn rains are giving way to winter drizzle, sometimes with wet snow, which does not yet cover the cooling ground. In the morning, you can see frost on the grass and roofs of houses, on bushes and trees.

The most striking event of early winter is the first, often short-lived snowfall. The snow melts as soon as it touches the ground, but it already heralds the imminent arrival of winter.

Early winter is a time of deep tranquillity and anticipation. Nature stands still, falling asleep to wake up renewed in spring. It is a time for reflection, solitude, and leisurely evenings with a book by the window. Many writers and poets have extolled the melancholic and austere beauty of this time of year.

In other words, pre-winter is a pause. A deep, damp and quiet pause between bright autumn and snow-white winter. It is a time when it seems that nature itself is holding its breath before a long cold and snowy period.

This visible boundary between late autumn and early winter is beautifully demonstrated by the melodies featured in our new music compilation ‘The Last Month of Autumn. Pre-winter,’ digitised from music media stored in the ‘Music Records’ section.

On the cover: Vase depicting a winter landscape. Manufactured by Daum Frères. France. Nancy. First quarter of the 20th century.