There are ideas for altars and and recipes for Mabon food for this next pagan holiday. But what is the word Mabon and why do people use it to describe the autumn equinox? 

What Is Mabon?

The autumnal equinox is considered the beginning of the days when the Sun God lost his light. Just as in Ostara, the days and nights are once again equal. The gardens are in full bloom and laden with nature’s abundance. The days have come to signal that the crops must begin to be harvested. Many kinds of plants and herbs, harvest fruits are collected. Summer is bid farewell with pine branches and cones with a slight frost in the air. After this day, nights start to get longer and the cold winter days are at the door.

Mabon Is Here!

You probably know that the autumnal equinox is the day between summer and winter when the length of the day and night are equal, which brings us to what many modern pagans call the wheel of the year. Four solar events seemed to have been important to Neolithic people and four festivals in between which have been important to people in Western Europe right into modern times. Modern Pagans started calling it the Wiccan wheel of the year. There isn’t much evidence that the autumn equinox was important to Celtic pagan ancestors but it probably was to our Neolithic ancestors who came before them.

What is Mabon? What Is The Meaning of Mabon?

That started quite recently, in 1973 with a fellow called Aidan Kelly. Aidan was involved with Wicca which was founded in the 1930s or 40s by an Englishman called Gerald Gardner. In the 1960s, Kelly helped found an American version of Wicca called the New Reformed Orthodox Order of the Golden Dawn. In 1973 he found himself creating what was probably the first published Wiccan calendar. He liked those traditional names like Beltanem, Yule and Imbolc, but he thought that some of the other holidays needed better snappier sounding names. 

But what should he call the autumn equinox? The story of Persephone fit the season perfectly but the other names on the pagan calendar wheel of the year were all Saxon or Celtic so he tried to think of a parallel. However, nothing Germanic seemed to fit.

Then he thought of an obscure God from the Welsh tradition called Mabon ap Modron. Like Persephone, Mabon was stolen from his mother and kept prisoner. His story had nothing to do with autumn or harvest but the name sounded good so he used it. And the American Wiccan holiday of Mabon was born!

Although it has earned the name Mabon in modern times, this seasonal transition celebration, also known as the Autumn Equinox and the Second Harvest, has been adopted by all civilizations.

What Day Is Mabon?

Mabon begins the day that divides the night and the day equally and continues until the end of the month. It usually falls around September 21 or 22 in the Northern Hemisphere and March 20 or 21 in the Southern Hemisphere. Various rituals are performed to show respect for the approaching darkness. While storing this year’s harvests, respect and gratitude are also given to the sunlight that gives them life.

Mabon Rituals and Mabon Traditions

The autumnal equinox Mabon symbolizes the balance between light and darkness. It is time to find balance within yourself and be thankful for what you have. Use the last months of September to create a ceremony of gratitude and balance.

Here are just a few cozy ways to connect to Mabon season!

• Go apple picking or bake with apples.
• Go for a quiet walk in nature and harness the energy of the season to find balance.
• Clean your house both physically and energetically. Don’t forget to use a broom!
• Take time to reflect or journal. You can also write a gratitude list for all the things you achieved this year and want to achieve in the next one.
• Decorate your Mabon altar with autumn leaves, apples, sunflowers, pine cones, pomegranates, pumpkins, cornucopia, season color candles, herbs, and crystals.

Mabon Symbolism

Wine, gourd, pine cones, acorns, grains, barren, apples, pomegranates, vines, and dried seeds are the main symbols of this pagan holiday. Here is all the Mabon symbolism you want to know to create your alter and also create rituel Mabon:

Plants

Oak, benzoin, fern, cereals, honeysuckle, marigold, milkweed, myrrh, passionflower, rose, sage, sage, tobacco, thistle, and vegetables.

Foods

Bread, nuts, apples, pomegranates, and vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, and onions.

Incense

Benzoin, myrrh and sage.

Colors

Red, orange, crimson brown, maroon, brown, and golden yellow.

Stones

Sapphires, lapis lazuli, and yellow agates.

Activities

Making wine, collecting dried grasses, herbs and seeds, walking in the woods, sprinkling compost on crop fields, pouring offering drinks on the lands of trees, and furnishing burial grounds with leaves, acorns, and cones to commemorate the deceased.