Mabon, the Fall Equinox

In September is the Fall Equinox, which has come to be called Mabon by many contemporary Neo-Pagans. Occuring approximately on September 21st, this is the day when the hours of daylight and nighttime are once again balanced. Calender days from now until the Winter Solstice will slowly get shorter and shorter in their daylight hours.

Agriculturally, this time of year the harvest is now in full swing, with late summer and fall fruits, vegetables and grains being gathered up before winter. This is the time of year a lot of canning or preserving of garden foods takes place. Hunting season also starts around this time, and this was when farmers would slaughter animals and preserve meat for the coming months as well.

This holiday is the last of the harvest holidays which began with the summer solstice and continued with Lammas.

At harvest time, many ancient Pagan communities felt that the growing or harvest spirit had to be preserved over the winter. The very last sheaves of wheat or stalks of corn in the fields were felt to be where these energies gathered as the crops were harvested. These last bits harvested where what were used to main a variety of figures known as corn dollies (also spelled corn dollys).

Sometimes these were literal female figurines, often tied from dried corn stalks. A few handfuls folded over each other easily makes a small figure. Other times these were symbolic knots or braids made from dried wheat sheaves, braided while the plant material is still somewhat moist and pliable.

Druids know this celebration as “Mea’n Fo’mhair” and honor the Green Man, God of the Forest, and his trees with poured offerings of ciders and wine. Norse pagans celebrate this time as Winter Finding, a time period that runs from the Sabbat until October 15th. This night is known as Winter’s Night and is the Norse New Year. The Wiccan New Year is also approaching at October’s end. It is known the ancient Mayans observed this date as well. At the pyramid at Cihickén Itzá, seven triangles of light fall on the pyramid’s staircase on this date only. In Japan, there is a six-day celebration around the equinox. This holiday is to honor Higan-e, the “other shore” and is based on six “perfections”: giving, observance of the precepts, perseverance, effort, meditation and wisdom.

There is an interesting folk legend involving eggs and the equinoxes. It was believed that since the hours of light and dark were equal, it would be possible to balance an egg on end during these magickal times. Sometimes the rumor specified that the balancing would only occur during the few hours that most closely fell before and after the actual time of the equinox. In reality, occasionally eggs can be balanced on the larger end if the conditions of the fluids inside the egg, the temperature, balancing surface, etc. all come together just right, however this is more specific to the actual egg used, and is regardless of the day of the year.