Whether you call it Mabon, Autumn Equinox, or Harvest Home, it’s one of my favorite times of the year. It’s the second of the three harvest festivals: Lughnasadh/Lammas, Mabon/Equinox, and Samhain. The heat of summer is over, and cooler weather is coming. The bounty of the harvest is all around us, from apples to corn, from peppers to squash. It’s sometimes called “the Pagan Thanksgiving,” a time of giving thanks for what we have—abundant crops, a good job, a healthy family. Most of us live in cities or suburbs, and our crops, if any, could not sustain us through the winter. But someone, somewhere, is growing the food we need, and we can use this occasion to be grateful to the farmers. It is also a time to consider what we have sowed this season, and what we have reaped, what projects have come to fruition, and which have fallen by the wayside.
Because this holiday is determined by the movement of the Earth in relation to the Sun, the exact date and time varies from year to year; it is usually either September 22 or 23. This occurs when the Sun crosses the equator on its apparent journey southward. Astrologically, it occurs when the Sun crosses into Libra.
The word equinox comes from Latin and means “equal night,” the time when the hours of night are equal to the daytime hours. It is a time to remember that we need both light and dark, heat and cold. If we didn’t have the warmth in summer, we wouldn’t notice that it’s cold in winter. We need the light to see, to grow things, but if we never had the darkness, we wouldn’t be able to sleep, or have times of repose. Everyone has to figure out for themselves the proper balance between animation and idleness, work and rest, and this is an excellent time to consider the question of balance in your life. Therefore, think about how you wish to bring things back into balance. This could involve large changes, or might be as simple as returning items you have borrowed, paying back small sums of money you owe friends and coworkers, apologizing for rudeness. Winter is coming, and it’s good to be in harmony with your surroundings and community before the harshness sets in.
Mabon, or more precisely, Mabon ap Modron, is a Welsh mythological figure, whose name comes from the Mabinogion, the Welsh national epic. The name translates “the Son of the Divine Mother.” In some versions, he was a young hunter, in others, a baby just three days old, when he was kidnapped and taken to Annwn, the land of the dead. He was rescued by Culhwch, and stayed young forever. The name was first applied to this holiday by Aidan Kelly in 1970, to give the holiday a more imaginative name than Autumn Equinox, and to balance the feminine name of Ostara for the Spring Equinox. It became frequently used, in part, because the legendary Green Egg magazine used Kelly’s names for the holidays for issue names.
Another mythic figure connected to the Fall Equinox is Persephone. Her mother, Demeter, was the Greek Goddess of grain and of the harvest. Persephone caught the attention of the God of the underworld, Hades, who abducted her and took her back to His realm. Demeter wandered the Earth looking for Her missing daughter, and her grief caused the crops to die. During her time in the underworld, Persephone had eaten six pomegranate seeds and therefore had to spend six months of the year in the Underworld. Therefore, six months of the year, the earth is barren while Demeter mourns her daughter. When Persephone returns, at the Vernal Equinox, spring begins.
Harvest Home was applied to the holiday by Fred Adams, who in 1967 founded Feraferia, one of the earliest non-Wiccan Pagan groups in the United States. Harvest Home is an old English term for the celebration of the harvest. The traditional ritual would be a feast, perhaps with songs, since there are a great many traditional folk songs about harvesting grain, and drinking (since some of grain would be brewed into beer). People would decorate the village with boughs. The cailleac, or last sheaf of grain, which represented the spirit of the field, was made into a harvest doll, wrapped in swaddling cloth like a baby and sometimes drenched with water as a rain charm. This sheaf, which would sometimes be made into a wheat dolly (sometimes called a corn dolly), or some other construct, was saved until spring planting. This wheat would be the first seeds sown the next year. If you want to try your hand at weaving wheat, there are instructions online if you search for “corn dolly” or “wheat weaving.”
The Autumn Equinox is celebrated in China and Japan, as well as among some Native American and other indigenous groups. It’s a natural time for a holiday, since it’s determined by an observable event. In China, it’s called the Mid-Autumn Festival, and is a celebration of the harvest. The nearest Full Moon is considered the Moon’s birthday, and celebrated with round Mooncakes. In Japan, it’s called Higan, or Shubun, and is a national holiday, as is the Spring Equinox. Chuseok is the Korean festival at the Autumn Equinox, and is also a harvest festival, when people visit their hometowns, if they are able, and share a feast of traditional foods.
Since this is a harvest festival, it’s a time for activities that help you share in the bounty of food available at this time. If you can, go to a “pick your own” farm, especially if you have children, so they can see where their food comes from. There’s nothing like an apple you just plucked from a tree, or corn picked an hour before you cook it. Sometime near the Fall Equinox would be a good time for a nature walk. Notice the changing sights and sounds of the outdoors. Listen for geese honking in the sky above you, observe the changing in the colors of leaves, and watch the ground for dropped items like acorns, nuts, and seedpods.
This is the time for gathering and preserving foods, whether you do it by drying, salting, canning, pickling, or freezing. Pickling can be easier than you think: slice cucumbers, put them in jars, and cover with vinegar and herbs like dill. Cold-packed pickles will be ready to eat in a few days and must be stored in the refrigerator; they must be used within a couple of months. If you are adventurous, you might try brewing beer or cider, or if you live where grapes are harvested, making wine. (Of course, wine can be made from other fruit as well.) I’ve always thought that this should be the time when Pagans exchange gifts, not going with the prevailing culture and exchanging them at Yule. (Guess how much luck I’ve had with getting people to go along with that.) I tend to give gifts from my garden, and so do a number of friends—pesto, salsa, pickles. Also, in many areas, the Renaissance Faire is going on, a great place to get Pagan gifts.
We know we’ll be spending more time indoors in just a few months, so now is the time to do the fall version of spring cleaning. While you still can, open all the windows to air out your home. Go through the house and get rid of anything that needs to be recycled or put in the garbage. (It’s sometimes helpful to get friends in to help, and help them in exchange. If nothing else, they will see that box that has been sitting on the porch ready to go to recycling, or that jar that needs to be put away but has effectively disappeared because you have been looking at it for such a long time.) Physically clean from top to bottom, starting with cobwebs on ceilings or in corners—“early Addams Family” is so last century. Dust, then vacuum, then mop the floors. Launder seldom-washed items like bathmats and washable curtains. Clean windows—come December you’ll want every bit of sunshine you can get. If you have anything that needs to be repaired, fix them now so you don’t have to do them during the winter. While you are doing your cleaning, see if there is anything you want to contribute to the food shelf, or send to Goodwill or a similar agency. In fact, a collection drive for the local food bank is a very appropriate coven or group activity for this time of year. Finally, go through the house and bless every room, sprinkling water and purifying with your favorite incense.
If you keep an altar, this is a good time to clean it and, if you wish, change it. Take everything off the altar and clean the surface. Dust or clean anything that needs it. Put away items connected with summer or before; compost those flowers from the May Basket, or the daisy chain you made at Midsummer. Decorate instead with leaves in autumn colors, nuts you have gathered, and decorative squash. If you decide to try making a corn dolly, it can repose on your altar until spring. I change the color of the candles on the altar as well, but not everyone is as fervent as I am.
This is a busy time of year, and always has been. Gathering crops, winnowing, threshing, and storing them for the winter, preserving with drying and canning, all take a lot of work. We are so lucky to have machines to help, and most of us no longer do the back-breaking work of picking and carrying food from the fields. We can celebrate the food and those who produce it and bring it to us, those who cook, and those who clean up afterward. This is a time to be grateful to the Earth, and to one another.