Sep 11, 20226 min read

Exploring Mabon

Updated: Oct 5, 2023

We are arriving at the first day of autumn! Or, as it is commonly known in many Pagan circles, Mabon. On this sabbat, day and night are balanced and of equal length, we are celebrating the second harvest festival, sharing the wealth, showing gratitude, and taking a bit of a breather. But what is the story behind our contemporary observations of the Autumnal Equinox and how do we incorporate that into our celebrations?

Below, I will cover

A Brief Summary
History & Background
Celebrating
Resources & Further Reading

Let's begin!

A Brief Summary

Names: Mabon, Autumnal/Fall Equinox, Harvest Home

Date(s): Typically either September 22nd or 23rd, in the Northern Hemisphere, but it sometimes falls on the 21st or 24th. In the Southern Hemisphere, this day usually lands on March 20th or 21st.

Observances: As I've already mentioned numerous times so far, day and night are of equal length, so there is an observance of balance between light and dark, day and night. This also means that the sun's reign is over and nighttime will be longer than daytime. Nights will continue to grow in length until we reach the longest night of the year at the Winter Solstice (Yule) in December. This is another celebration of the annual harvest, so just like with Lughnasadh, we are also celebrating and showing gratitude for abundance. Keep in mind that the original American Thanksgiving took place on October 3rd, not too far off from the equinox. While Lughnasadh had a focus on the hard work that you put in and an acknowledgment of your own achievements, Mabon is more focused on showing gratitude for those who helped you and sharing that reward. This is also a time to take a break after the hard work of the previous months and to restore energy before it is time to prepare for winter.

History & Background

In every video and article in which I cover the history of the sabbats, I like to discuss their different names as each one has at least two and they usually hold a good amount of meaningful and historical context. The "Autumn Equinox" is kind of a, well, literal description, so there's not much purpose exploring that further. However, the name Mabon was assigned by Aidan Kelly in the 1970s. His choice was inspired by a character from Welsh mythology named Mabon ap Modron, which translates to "Son of the Mother".

This was after he had begun to notice patterns in various myths from different cultures in which a young person was rescued from death on or around the Autumn Equinox. Mabon ap Modron was one of these characters that was rescued.

Whether you prefer to call it Mabon or the Autumn(al)/Fall Equinox is entirely up to you. But while the name Mabon is relatively new, the celebration of this equinox is not. Many different cultures celebrated the harvest in September and the Anglo-Saxons even considered this a holy month. Then there is Harvest Home to consider.

Harvest Home was celebrated by much of the English countryside by the late 1500s. This celebration took place after a community's major grain harvest, which was typically in August or September. It consisted of a feast and drinks, the choosing of Harvest Lords and Queens, the village was decorated, and there were games of skill related to the harvest. The final sheaf of grain to be taken down was typically given a form and a name. Sometimes it was feared and sometimes it was honored--kinda just depended on the tradition of each particular community.

While there is no written record to show that these customs were carried forward from the time of the ancient Pagans, they do seem pretty damn Pagan if you ask me. Harvest Home wasn't celebrated until the 1500s, well after the time we would consider "ancient", but many of its traditions are on record as far back as the 1300s. Still not ancient by any means, but since many records were destroyed and there was a severe lack of long-lasting recordkeeping from those ancient days, we're just going to have to work with what we've got.

As always, we can't talk about the history of the sabbats without discussing the Christian crossovers. This time of year was celebrated by Christians as Michaelmas, or Michael's Mass, which took place on September 29th and honored the archangel Michael. Michael is said to have battled Lucifer, and among his various job descriptions, he calls people to judgment and escorts the faithful to Heaven. Many took this time to ask for his protection as the night overtook the day and winter drew ever closer.

In some places Michaelmas is still celebrated, but the various ways in which it was/is observed are too numerous for this article and heavily dependent on time, region, and denomination. As usual, however, feasting was extremely common, a main dish of goose was traditional in some places, as was the baking of bread. Speaking of, there is a lot of crossover between celebrations--Pagan, Christian, and cultural--of the times surrounding Lughnasadh and Mabon. Considering that they are both harvest festivals, this makes sense, and you'll see a lot of these same customs come up during Samhain.

On a final note, something I like to bring up with every sabbat and when mentioning its historical relations to Christianity, we often have a "chicken or the egg" scenario. Did ancient Pagans celebrate this sabbat in their own way and Christians adopted those customs? Or are neo-Pagans currently pulling from past Christian influence? Honestly, we don't always know. Much of the documentation simply, sadly, does not go back far enough, is riddled with gaps, or was taken down by unreliable narrators.

While some Pagans prefer to keep all Christian-related things out of their practice, many of us are okay dealing with the overlap that exists, but that is an entirely personal choice. Things became so intermingled, so slowly over time that not only is there no definitive line and no exact answer from historians, but there is a lot of meaning that resonates with Pagans no matter the true origin. In my practice, I simply take God out of it and I work with what's leftover.

As always, I am only providing a brief overview of the history of this sabbat. To learn more, check out the resources listed at the bottom of this article.

Celebrating

Here is a jumping-off point for forming your celebrations. Please keep in mind that these lists are here to help but they are not definitive! You should absolutely put your own spin on how to decorate and celebrate based on how this sabbat works into your life and spirituality.

Decorations

Colors: Gold, copper, bronze, yellow, orange, red
Flora: Fall leaves, corn, dried corn husks, wheat and other grains, apples, pumpkins and other gourds, grapes, pears, blackberries (bonus if you can arrange them in a cornucopia)
Other: Symbols of balance and duality

Activities

Share your bounty - Charity work or giving donations are a great way to share abundance
Clear things out - The cycle of the (solar) year is soon coming to a close, so this is a good opportunity for some autumn cleaning. Consider donating items you are getting rid of.
Complete any projects that you have left unfinished
Meditate or journal on areas of your live that feel chaotic or out of sync and consider how that imbalance can be resolved
Take a day off - Whether you like to curl up with a good book and a cup of tea, visit the spa, or laze in front of the TV with some junk food (hey, I'm not judging!), take a day on or near Mabon to do whatever it is that relaxes you
Visit an orchard and go apple picking
Bake an apple, pumpkin, or blackberry pie
Attend a harvest festival
Host a potluck with local, seasonal foods
Drink cider
Make a list of things you are thankful for - It is an especially good time to think back on all the things you have received in the past year, but you don't have to limit your list to only recent ones!

Rituals, Spellwork, & Magick

Make offerings: Remember how I mentioned at the beginning of this article that the U.S. Thanksgiving used to fall near to this sabbat? Even if you are already doing so on a regular basis, make sure to make an offering or a prayer of thanks on Mabon for those who have assisted you in the past year. Whether that be deity, ancestors, demons, spirits, etc.
Intentions: Abundance, gratitude, rest and rejuvenation, and anything that will prepare you for the winter: peace of mind, inner strength, protection, defense, loss prevention. Finally, any spell to restore balance will be greatly empowered on this day.