There are lots of autumn festivals for all different religions and faiths.
During the months when the weather changes from summer to winter, we have events to mark the seasonal changes and also cheer us up when the weather gets miserable!
Read about the festivals and events in brief below and see the Autumn Festivals gallery by clicking the images button below.
If that's not enough, then you can follow the links on the left to read about the festivals in more detail.
Diwali is the festival of light, symbolising the victory of righteousness and the lifting of spiritual darkness. It is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains.
It fell on Monday 4 November this year.
| |  | Street decorations on the Foleshill road for Diwali.
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Diwali lights
Coventry celebrated Diwali with stunning strings of colourful lights spanning Foleshill Road.
The lights were switched on on Sunday 27 October and stayed on for a week.
Leamington
Diwali was also celebrated at the Royal Spa Centre in Leamington with food and free entertainment on Thursday 31 October.
Diwali workshops
People also celebrated Diwali by making a take-away Rangoli pattern or a Diwa light.
The workshops took place at Longford Park and Coventry Canal Basin.
CLICK THE IMAGES BUTTON FOR THE AUTUMN FESTIVAL GALLERY
| |  | Click the images button above to see the artwork.
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Pupils from Foleshill Primary Church of England Primary School in Coventry and Myton Secondary School in Warwick have created a beautiful gallery for the festival of Diwali.
Esme, aged nine, from Foleshill Church of England School in Coventry has won the Midlands Today weather gallery competition for the week ending Friday 25 October 2002.
Her picture is in the gallery and is also pictured above and left.
Click the images button above to see their artwork in the Autumn festivals gallery.
| |  | Jewish men feasting during The High Holy Days
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There are three major Jewish events in September. The period between Rosh Hashanah on 7 September and Yom Kippur on 16 September is called the High Holy Days. The days between these dates are called the Days of Awe or Repentance.
After these, The Feast of Tabernacles (or Sukkot) starts on 21 September for approximately nine days.
Halloween and Pagan harvest festival
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| |  | The dead were closer to the living on Samhain
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It's believed that Halloween's roots lie in the fifth century BC and the Celtic festival Samhain - the end of summer.
October 31 was the final feast after the harvests and the world was though to have "died" for the winter, only to be resurrected the following spring. Pagans in the modern world still celebrate Samhain.
As the Celts believed in a circular calendar, 31 October was both the last day of summer and first day of winter and to them the day was "outside" the realms of time. This meant the living were closer to the dead than at any other time.
| |  | Guy Fawkes the gunpowder plotter
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We've been lighting fires and burning effigies on 5 November for around 500 years and the popularity of Bonfire Night continues to grow around the world.
The tradition first began to mark the failure of the Gunpowder Plotters' plan to blow up the House of Parliament on 5 November, 1605, when people lit huge fires to represent the one that didn't burn in Parliament Square.
However, people had been lighting huge bonfires at this time of year anyway because of the Celtic festival of Samhain, which marked the end of their year and the beginning of winter.
The gunpowder plotters hatched a lot of their plans around Coventry and Warwickshire. Find out all about it in our special feature, just follow the link on the left.
| |  | Durga Maa - Goddess of power.
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The nine nights of Navratri are devoted to the worship of Shakti or The Divine Force, the supporter of the universe. This is represented through a female form with three manifestations.
The Shree Sorathia Prajapati Community Coventry Branch have organised a special event for the Hindu festival of Navratri on Friday 25 October.
Follow the link on the left to read all about it.
Read about them in more detail
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Follow the links on the left to read about all of these festivals in more detail.
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