Mabon/Autumn Equinox
On the 21st September it is the
Autumn Equinox, or Mabon. The holiday of Autumn Equinox or Mabon, is also
known as Harvest Home, Harvest’s Height, the Feast of the Ingathering, Mell
Day, Kirn Feast, Vela Laiks in Latvia, Meán Fómhair or Alban Elfed (Druidic)
Nature is in perfect balance at this
time of year, this is an ideal time for you, your family and friends to
appreciate all that is around you.
At the Equinox, day and night are of exactly equal length. It is at this
time the sun truly rises in the east and sets in the west.
At Mabon we celebrate
the harvest. Festivals take place nowadays all around the world to give thanks
for the marvelous bounty the earth has provided for us. We see harvest
festivals and Thanksgiving celebrations
taking place at this time of year and it is a wonderful time of joy, of being
with family and of remembering to offer gratitude for all that we have.
The legend behind Mabon comes from Welsh history. Mabon ap Modron is the
son of Modron who is called the Great Goddess, Duardian of the Otherworld,
Protector and Healer. He is the
“Great Son of the Great Mother” andknown as the Son of Light.
At the moment of the Autumn Equinox Mabon is taken from his mother when
only three days old. Modron cries in sweet sorrow and his whereabouts are
veiled in mystery. Mabon is eventually freed at Yule (Winter Solstice),
with the aid of the ancient and wise animals: Stag, Raven, Owl, Eagle and
Salmon. Some
legends state that King Arthur himself was Ma Mabon’s rescuer. Apparently Mabon has been a happy captive dwelling in
Modron’s magickal Otherworld- Modron’s womb. The story shows how only from such
a place of nuturing can Modron come forth and bring such light into the world.
He is regenerated and re-born from his time in the warmth and comforting
strength of the Earth Mother to bring new life forward.
Mabon’s story reminds us of the importance of
periods of rest and recuperation. It is during these times that we gather the
strength to spring forward with renewed vigor ready to face the world and all
its challenges. The earth is our strength and we can draw from that strength.
Christian Britain replaced the Welsh
Mabon with St Michael, to whom churches on many sacred Pagan sites were
erected. The Autumnal Equinox became known as the Christian Feast of
Michaelmas. Michael
is seen as the greatest of all archangels and is credited with defeating
Lucifer, he is seen as the protector of darkness.
Other cultures also identified this
season with their own mythologies. In ancient Rome, it was a celebration to
Mercury or Apollo. We also think of the legend Demeter and Persphone at this
time as the Autumn equinox is the time that Persphone leaves her mother and
goes to join Hades in the underworld.
The Druids call this festival of Mabon Mea'N Fo'mhair and honor the Green Man by making offerings of
beverages like mead and cider to the trees.
Mabon marks the
completion of the grainharvest
begun during Lughnasadh or Lammas. Celebrations revolve around the gathering of
crops and thanksgiving for the abundances of the harvest, and rituals to insure
the success of next year's harveharvest are characteristic during this
harvest time. As at Lammas the making of corn dollies from the last sheaf of
corn that is harvested is a typical custom.
The corn dollies that were made from the last sheaves
of the harvest were often carried from house to house in a game where people
tried to run back without anybody taking the dolly from them. This could be an
early form of the American football game. The corn dolly was then displayed in
a position of honour in the home, perhaps above the hearth as she embodied the
spirit of the harvest. The Mabon corn dolly is then
kept until the spring - keeping the spirit of the corn, when she is ploughed
back into the field to breath the life of the corn back into the soil.
Many celebrations
revolved around the crowning of the harvest King and Queen. The English folk song “Lavender Blue,
Lavender Green” was a song that grew out of Mabon traditions. Blue is the color
of the Harvest Lord and green of the Harvest Lady. Hay rides were a popular
custom as families rode the hay wagon back from the harvest, singing songs
about the bountiful
harvest in readiness for the harvest
that they were about to partake of. Then would follow a wonderful Mabon harvest
festival, a feast that brought the whole community together, young and old
alike. All joined in celebration for this wonderful bounty that Mother Nature
had provided.
Contained within the
harvesting of the crops is the mystery of life and death in the image of Lohn
Barylecorn, the Wicker Man or corn Man. Images of the Wicker Man were burnt in
order to ensure a bountiful harvest for the coming year.
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| Image Magickal Graphics |
In Scotland and
Wales, Mabon wines were poured onto the ground to honour the aging Goddess as
she moved into her
Crone aspect. In Celtic lands
blackberry wine was a Celtic specialty, especially in Ireland, where
blackberries are sacred to the goddess Brigit.
In Ireland, Scotland and Cornwall
burial mounds or Cairns were often visited during Mabon to honour the spirits
of dead ancestors. This was to appease the dead so that when they visited at
Samhain they would be kindly and would be wishing goodwill upon the living. It
was believed that the balance of light and dark at this time of the equinox
would act like an equilateral cross and offer protection from any negative
spirits that may be inhabiting and burial grounds. An apple was often left to
honour dead ancestors at their burial site. Apples have been viewed as sacred in many cultures and have been
associated with knowledge and immortality. They are said to be a symbol of the
Goddess because the centre reminds us of the womb when we look at the seeds
representing the growing life that hides inside.
In China, Taiwan and Vietnam the equinox
is celebrated with the Moon festival also known as Mooncake festival or
Zhongqui Festival. This festival honours Chang’e the lunar Goddess and it
commemorates the only day in the year that she can visit her husband Houyi who
lives on the sun. Because of this it is seen as a celebration of the balance of
yin and yang. Traditions associated with the Mooncake festival include eating
mooncakes(not surprisingly!) lighting lanterns, matchmaking, and Fire Dragon
Dances.
In Japan, Higan is a Buddhist holiday
celebrated at both the time of the autumn and spring equinoxes. Higan is seen
in Buddhist terms as crossing from the shore of ignorance and suffering to the
other shore of Enlightenment and peace. Celebrations typically involve
honouring ancestors, cleaning and decorating their graves.
So we see a tradition of harvest and
thanksgiving festivals still taking place around our globe today. It is perhaps
not quite as acute as it was to our ancestors and we are not as close to the
earth as they used to be. After all generally most of us do have enough food to
eat and are not so dependent on a good harvest. We are lucky enough to be able
to shop at our local supermarket for a wide variety of food from around the
globe. However just because we are no longer so dependent on the success of the
harvest this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t give thanks to our mother earth at this
time for the food that she provides for us.
Ashleen O’Gaea explains
in Celebrating the Seasons of Life: Beltane to Mabon:
…When we
celebrate the harvest at Mabon, we are right to enjoy our successes, our
accomplishments, and the work we’ve done to enhance our lives. We are
right to enjoy pooling and sharing our resources with our friends and our loved
ones. But it’s also appropriate to celebrate the harvest in a much wider
sense, and to be especially aware of our day-to-day, breath-to-breath
interactions that are a continuous cycle of harvest
We
should not therefore be only thankful for the harvest at this time of year but
for everything that is good in our lives.
Maybe you would like to conduct your
own Mabon celebrations based on those festivities carried out by our ancestors.
There is more information on this on my post on Mabon activities
Mabon is also a time of year
to slow down a little and reflect. Don’t rush forward hastily but let the
autumn be a fallow period if necessary. Use this time as nauture does, to lie
fallow if you need to be whilst you look within at your life. Be understanding
with yourself, treat yourself as Mabon within his Mother’s womb before you
emerge forth with love and light. Think
about what you like in your life and what you would like to change. It is a
good time to give thanks for the good, to release that which isn’t good and is
not serving a purpose any more in your life. Mabon is a good time to get
in touch with your ability to change, to bring warmth to cold situations, to
bring light into dark situations and areas of your life. Use this time of balance, to look closely at the balance in our life.
How do you balance your personal needs with your commitments to the outside
world? How do you receive and how do you give?
Enjoy the sense of balance to your life
that the Autumnal Equinox will bring. Don’t push anything, let your days take
their own pace just as nature does and you may be surprisingly pleased by the
results that you see. Enjoy this wonderful season as the leaves start to turn
from green to golden blackberries appear in our hedgerows. And once again
marvel at the wonders of the turning of the Wheel.
Mabon blessings of bountiful light to you, Alison
