Bow to the Supreme Power of Our Seasonal Harbingers

Caitlin Covington staged a faux cancellation of Christian Girl Autumn on August 20, briefly convincing many online and demonstrating control over the cultural idea of the season's start. Traditional seasonal markers—full moons, new moons, solstices—once governed seasonal timing, but contemporary social-media authorities increasingly declare seasonal transitions for large audiences. Cultural harbingers now serve as modern embodiments of seasonal change. Punxsutawney Phil exemplifies an older, enduring steward of spring whose ritualized appearance, despite skeptics, continues to generate collective hope and ritual. Ritual, performance, and popular figures shape communal calendars independent of local climate.

On August 20, Christian Girl Autumn founder - mogul? seer? elected official? - Caitlin Covington pulled the rug out from under the internet by pretending to cancel this year's Christian Girl Autumn. Never mind that it's still August or that she couldn't even keep up the ruse for 24 hours ( her acting was solid enough to genuinely fool people). The biggest reveal of the day was that Covington really has a hold on the notion of "fall" - Christian girl or otherwise -

For centuries, the seasons were dictated by the stars - full moons, new moons, solstices. Now, those of us who look at a phone more than the heavens learn that the seasons are changing because various self-appointed figures of popular culture tell us that the seasons are changing. You don't have to live in a place that has autumn to know that autumn kicks off; Covington does that work for you.

Spring's cultural harbinger is the oldest and wisest of the traditions, firmly rooted in popular culture long before we had TV shows, movies, or even Instagram. Like an ancient demon or witch's familiar, Punxsutawney Phil, the iconic Pennsylvanian groundhog, has long cornered the market on the weather warming. Seeing that marmot offshoot with his twitchy little nose and beady eyes, clutched by an obscure local bureaucrat, conjures hope for the year to come.

Read at Vulture