Wheel of the Year: Mabon
September 22 (1:19:49 PM) marks the Autumn Equinox, the second of three harvest festivals in the Wheel of the Year.
The festival was named Mabon in 1970 by Aidan Kelly after a Welsh hero or god, Mabon ap Modron (son of the Mother). The name is ahistorical since the Celts (the source of many of the festival names) did not celebrate equinoxes, but The Venerable Bede, writing in the early 700s, notes that September was the Anglo-Saxon holy month (Haligmonað) when the harvest was celebrated. By the late 1500s, the English celebrated Harvest Home with feasting, games, and celebrations. Although our sources are Christian, some of the customs have a pagan feel to them. Harvest Kings and Queens who supervised the gathering and gleaning, respectively, were popular. Also popular were customs honoring the last sheaf of grain to be harvested. In some locales, the last grain in the field was harvested by men throwing sickles at it. Parades featuring corn dollies or led by someone carrying the last sheaves gathered were common.
Although the name Mabon is not used universally by Pagans and never by non-Pagans, the impulse to celebrate the harvest is widespread: Oktoberfest (first celebrated in 1810) in Germany in late September to early October; Autumn Moon Festival in China (look for Moon Cakes); yam festivals celebrated by the Yoruba; corn festivals celebrated by the Iroquois.
Nonetheless, by whatever name, this festival celebrates the height of the harvest season. Those of us who garden rush to keep up with the bounty that is ready for harvest (yes, you can have too many zucchini). Visiting a farmers’ market can result in overload both visually and physically. All that food inviting us to buy and enjoy the bounty to eat now and to preserve for the winter is hard to resist.
This festival is also an occasion for gratitude and reflection. We can be grateful that we have food, but we can also reflect on our good fortune and consider the ways we might spread that good fortune around by, for example, making regular donations to a food pantry or being more careful about wasting food. We can also reflect on whether any plans or projects have, shall we say borne fruit. Yes? No? What lessons can be learned?
Mabon is also a time of balance between light and dark, tipping toward increasing darkness as the seasonal cycle turns toward the last harvest and the fallow time of winter. We hold this balance in our lives by celebrating the gifts we, personally and in our community, have, but understanding that we need to prepare for the season ahead and the help we may need to receive and give.