Mabon
- Happy Autumn Equinox ! |
21st/23rd
September Harvest
time!
The
Autumn Equinox or
Harvest Home is
also called Mabon, pronounced 'MAY-bon', after the Welsh
god Mabon ap Modron, which means literally 'son
of mother'.
Mabon appears in 'The Mabinogion' tale. The
Druids call this celebration, Mea'n Fo'mhair, and honour The
Green Man, the God
of the Forest, by offering libations to the trees. The
Welsh know this time as 'Alban Elfed', meaning 'light of autumn'.
This
is the point of the year when once again day and night are
equal - 12 hours, as at Ostara, the Spring
Equinox. The Latin word for Equinox means 'time
of equal days and nights'.
After this celebration the descent
into winter brings hours of increasing darkness and chiller
temperatures. It is the time
of the year when night conquers day.
After
the Autumn Equinox the days shorten and nights lengthen. To
astrologers this is the date on which the sun enters the sign of Libra, the
scales, reflecting appropriately the balanced day and night of the equinox.
This was also the time when the farmers brought in their harvested goods to
be weighed and sold.
Harvest
festival
This is the second festival of the season of harvest - at the beginning of
the harvest, at Lammas, winter retreated to his underworld, now at the Autumn
equinox he comes back to earth. For our Celtic ancestors this was time to reflect
on the past season and celebrate nature's bounty and accept that summer is
now
over. Harvest
Home marks a time of rest after hard work, and a
ritual of thanksgiving for the fruits of nature.
This
is the time to look back on the past year and what you have
achieved and learnt, and to plan for the future.
The full
moon nearest to the Autumn Equinox is called the Harvest
Moon and farmers would harvest their crops by
then, as part of the second harvest celebration.
Mabon was when livestock would be slaughtered and preserved (salted and smoked)
to provide enough food for the winter.
At the South Pole they will be celebrating the first appearance of the sun
in six months. However, at the North Pole they will be preparing for six months
of darkness.
During
Medieval times, the Christian Church replaced Pagan solstices
and equinox celebrations with Christianized occasions.
The Autumn equinox celebration was Michaelmas, the feast of the Archangel Michael. |
Autumn Equinox
2006 at Avebury
King
Arthur and his Loyal
Arthurian warband
-
a member of the Council of British Druid Orders and environmental campaigners,
begin the Autumn Equinox celebrations
with a blessing for all those passing under the archway.
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The triple
Goddess - worshipped by the Ancient Britons, is now in
her aspect of the ageing
Goddess and now passes from Mother to Crone, until she
is reborn as a youthful virgin as the wheel of nature
turns.
At the Autumn equinox the goddess offers wisdom, healing and rest.
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The Wicker man
There
was a Celtic ritual of dressing the last sheaf of corn to be harvested
in fine clothes, or weaving it into
a wicker-like man or woman. It was believed the sun or the corn
spirit was trapped in the corn and needed to be set free. This
effigy
was
usually
burned
in celebration
of the harvest and the ashes would be spread on the fields. This
annual sacrifice of a large wicker man (representing
the corn spirit) is thought by many to have been the origin of
the misconception that Druids made human sacrifices.
'The reaping is over and the harvest is in,
Summer is finished, another cycle begins'
In some areas of the country the last sheaf was kept inside
until the following spring, when it would be ploughed back into
the land. In Scotland, the last sheaf of harvest is called 'the
Maiden', and must be cut by the youngest female in attendance.
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To Autumn
O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained
With the blood of the grape, pass not,
but sit
Beneath my shady roof, there thou may'st rest,
And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe;
And all the daughters of the year shall dance,
Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers.
William Blake
Mabon
is a time to reflect, as we reap the harvest of experience from
the past year - the completion of another turn of the Great Wheel. |
Corn
Dollies
Corn dollies were also made from the last sheaf and kept in the house to protect
the inhabitants from bad spirits during the long winter.
Apples
To honour the dead, it was also traditional at Mabon to place apples on burial
cairns, as symbolism of rebirth and thanks. This
also symbolizes the wish for the living to one day be reunited with their loved
ones.
Mabon is also known as the Feast of Avalon, deriving from the meaning of Avalon
being, 'the land of the apples'. |
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See
pictures of the Autumn Equinox sunrise illuminating the
inner
chamber at Loughcrew in
Ireland at dawn
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