Mabon
🌒 What is Mabon?
Mabon is a modern Pagan and Wiccan festival that celebrates the autumn equinox — the moment in September when day and night are equal in length. It usually falls between September 21st–24th in the Northern Hemisphere (March 20th–23rd in the Southern Hemisphere). This year it falls on September 22.
It is part of the Wheel of the Year, which
is the cycle of eight Sabbats (seasonal
festivals) that mark solar events and
agricultural shifts. Within this wheel,
Mabon is the second of the harvest
festivals (after Lughnasadh/Lammas in
August and before Samhain at the end of
October).
Mabon is often described as a "Pagan Thanksgiving" because it’s centered around gratitude, harvest, balance, and preparation for the dark half of the year. It is both a time of celebration (for the bounty of the harvest) and reflection (since days will now grow shorter, leading toward winter).
🌿 The Origin of Mabon
The name “Mabon” itself is actually a modern term — it was first applied to the autumn equinox festival by Aidan Kelly, a Wiccan author, in the 1970s. He borrowed it from Mabon ap Modron, a figure from Welsh mythology.
Mabon ap Modron means “Son of the Mother” in Welsh. He is a character in the medieval text The Mabinogion, described as a child stolen from his mother at three nights old, then later rescued by King Arthur’s companions. His story is connected with cycles of death, rebirth, and the harvest — themes that align well with the equinox.
While the term “Mabon” is modern, the festival itself is ancient, since nearly all agricultural societies marked the autumn equinox in some way:
Ancient Celts & Druids: Celebrated the balance of light and dark, and honored deities associated with harvest and fertility.
Greeks & Romans: Linked the equinox to the Persephone and Demeter myth, representing the descent into the underworld and the seasonal dying of the earth.
Norse & Germanic traditions: Marked this period with harvest feasts, honoring gods like Freyr (fertility, harvest) and offering mead, grains, or apples.
Anglo-Saxons: Had a festival called “Winter Finding,” which marked the beginning of winter preparations.
So while the word "Mabon" is new, the festival is deeply old, rooted in thousands of years of equinox celebrations across cultures.
🍎 Themes of Mabon
Balance: Day and night are equal; balance between light and dark, work and rest, life and death.
Harvest & Gratitude: A time to give thanks for the abundance of the season.
Preparation for Winter: Storing, preserving, and preparing for leaner months.
Release & Reflection: Like leaves falling from trees, it’s a time to let go of what no longer serves.
🔮 Traditional Rituals & Ways to Celebrate Mabon
Because Mabon is a seasonal celebration, the rituals are often tied to harvest, balance, and thanksgiving. Here are some common and traditional practices:
1. Feasting and Seasonal Foods
A harvest feast is one of the most common ways to celebrate.
Typical foods: apples, pomegranates, grapes, squash, pumpkins, root vegetables, corn, bread, cider, wine, and nuts.
Sharing food with loved ones or donating to those in need honors the spirit of communal harvest.
2. Altars and Decorations
Altars are decorated with symbols of autumn: colorful leaves, gourds, cornucopias, pinecones, wheat stalks, apples, and acorns.
Colors: deep reds, oranges, golds, browns, and earthy greens.
Candles in autumn tones are used to represent balance and gratitude.
3. Thanksgiving Rituals
Writing lists of gratitude and placing them on the altar.
Offering thanks to the earth, deities, ancestors, or spirits for the harvest.
Some burn old writings or symbols of what they want to release (to mirror nature’s letting go).
4. Balance Rituals
Meditation or reflection on areas of life that need balance.
Candle rituals with two candles (light and dark) to honor the equinox’s equal balance.
Yin-yang symbolism is sometimes incorporated.
5. Harvest Magic & Offerings
Gathering apples and cutting them horizontally to reveal the pentagram inside — used as a magical symbol of balance and protection.
Making herbal sachets or charms with autumn herbs (sage, rosemary, cinnamon, cloves).
Offering libations (wine, cider, or milk) to the earth or leaving food for wildlife.
6. Honoring Ancestors
As the year turns toward darkness, some begin ancestor veneration earlier than Samhain.
Lighting candles, placing photos or offerings on an altar, or speaking prayers of remembrance.
7. Nature Walks
Collecting autumn leaves, seeds, pinecones, and acorns as symbols of abundance and cycles.
Observing the balance of day and night, or watching the sunrise/set.
8. Community Gatherings
Historically, equinox festivals often included fairs, markets, or communal harvest events.
Modern groups may gather for rituals, drum circles, storytelling, or seasonal craft-making.
🌾 Symbols & Correspondences of Mabon
Colors: Red, orange, brown, gold, maroon, russet.
Symbols: Apples, pomegranates, cornucopia, grapes, acorns, wine, autumn leaves.
Herbs/Spices: Sage, cinnamon, cloves, rosemary, thyme, marigold.
Deities: Demeter, Persephone, Pomona (Roman goddess of fruit), Dionysus, Freyr, Mabon ap Modron.
Stones: Citrine, carnelian, amber, tiger’s eye.
Animals: Stag, owl, blackbird, squirrel.
Mabon is the modern Pagan/Wiccan celebration of the autumn equinox. While the name is contemporary (1970s), the festival itself has ancient roots across Celtic, Norse, Roman, and other agrarian traditions. It’s a holiday of balance, harvest, gratitude, and preparation, celebrated with feasts, rituals of thanks, offerings to the earth, balance meditations, ancestor honors, and seasonal decorations.