| Mabon September 21st |
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Most people today do not grow their own fruits and vegetables, but we do stop at roadside stands and buy bags of apples and cider, we drink grape juice or maybe even do some canning with the grapes. We drive along the road and see the orchards ripe with apples, pears and peaches. We have a lot of grape fields where I live, in fact there is one directly behind my house. I take walks back there and eat grapes along the way and at night when it gets cool, you can smell the sweet scent of grapes lingering in the night air. The weather is getting cooler, plants are now turned yellow and gourds and pumpkins are swelling in the fields, almost ready to be picked. The oak trees have produced thei acorns and they lay at the base of trees, ready for the squirrels to store them in their little holes in the tree. The herb garden is ready to be harvested and blue chicory has sprouted heavily along roadsides and down the grape rows. Its also football season and in my house that means lots of chili and apple pie are being made. Those scents, no matter what time of the year, always remind me of Mabon and this harvest season. This is the time when kids are going back to school and the hectic days of summer are winding down to a steady routine once again. Now we can sit back and enjoy the many beautiful sights, sounds and tastes of the harvest season. |
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| Mabon pronounces (may-bon or mah - bun) also known as the Autumn Equinox, the Second Harvest, Harvest Home, Wine Harvest, Alban Efed and the Festival of Dionysis falls on or near September 21st. It is said that the names Mabon was given to this festival by Alex Sanders, the founder of Alexandrian Wicca, when before it was just called the Autumn Aquinox. An interesting note too is that supposidly Ross Nichols, former chosen Chief of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, thought of the 8-fold year and got together with Gerald Gardner and mixed the Wiccan and Druid festivals, thus getthing the Wiccan 8-fold year. Mabon is the day when night and day are equal length. The summer is ending, the plants and trees are turning orange, yellow and brown and the apples, grapes and late vegatables are being harvested. This is a time of Thanksgiving. We thank the Goddess for what she has provided us through the year. Its a time of celebration and bounty. We get together with friends and family and reflect on how the earth sustains us. Its also a time of balance - night and day are equal but soon the days will be getting progressivly shorter. |
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| Also at this time the God lies deep in the womb of the Goddess, the Earth Mother. There he rebuilds his strength just ast the plants and seeds return deep to the earth to regain strength and nutrients so when the spring returns they can once again flourish and bloom. At Yule the Goddess will give birth to the God once again. Mabon gets its name from the Welsh God of the same name (which means "great son"). In the myth, a man named Culhwch had a curse laid on him that he would never marry unless he marry Olwen, daughter of a chief-giant. But there was one problem, her father would not let any suiters near her. But if any suiter wanted to try he had to accomplish 39 impossible tasks. Culhwch and his cousin Arthur set out to accomplish these tasks but first needed to ask the help of Mabon. They saught the most ancient of all animals, Salmon of Llyn Llew who led them to the wall of Caer Loyw where they heard somebody weaping. This person was Mabon who was incarcerated here. Culhwch and his companions helped Mabon to escape and eventually gets to marry Olwen. The myth goes that Mabon was stolen from his mother, The Earth Mother Modron, three nights after his birth. She is in such sorrow that her light and life disappears from the earth. So at the Autum Equinox the earth is slowely dying and winter comes. But when Mabon is still prisioned in his cell the animals and plants slowely start to bloom again. The marrage of Olwen and Culhwch parallel the escape of Mabon and the blossoming of the earth. |
| Of course there are many other myths around the world that paralle this myth, such as that of Persephone and Demeter. At the equinox when Persephone is stolen by Hades, Demeter is in great sorrow so she fails to tend the earth, thus the plants and trees slowely die and the earth gets cold and dark. When Persephone returns again at the Spring Equinox Demeter is so overjoyed that life once agains returns to the earth. Symbols of Mabon grapes apples vines gourds wine juice turning leaves acorns feasting corn sunflower Herbs- Acorn, benzoin, ferns, grains, honeysuckle, marigold, milkweed, myrrh, passionflower, rose, sage, solomon's seal, tobacco, thistle, and vegetables Foods-corn, nut breads, corn bread, apple pie and apple desserts, nuts, late blooming vegatebles Colors - oranges, deep reds, yellows, fruit colors, browns Goddesses - Modron, Morgan, Epona, Persephone, Cerrwdwyn, Demeter Gods-Mabon, Thor, Hermes, The Green Man, Cernunnos Activities- Make an altar. To dress up a Mabon altar you could get some fruit and fall print fabric for a cloth and place either real or fake grapes, apples and nuts of the altar. Have wine or grape juice in the ritual chalice and nut bread for the ritual feast. Have dark red or dark orange candles lit as well. It would also be neat to hold your Mabon ritual near graoes rows or in an apple orchard. If this is your first Mabon, go outside and experience nature. Notice the subtle signs that fall is on its way, smell the scents of apples, dried leaves and grapes in the air, collect acorns and other nuts and berries. If you have a garden then this is the time to harvest. Give thanks to the Goddess for providing us live and nurishment and look inwards and feel the gentle, soothing effects of the season. |