Raymond
|
Bright Blessings at Mabon!!!Mabon (pro: May-bon)
Also known as: Autumn Equinox. Harvest Home. Modron. Mea'n Fo'mhair. Alban Elfed.
N/Hem: Sept 21st
S/Hem: March 21st
The Autumn Equinox or Harvest Home is generally called Mabon, after the Welsh god Mabon ap Modron, which means literally 'son of mother'.
Mabon appears in 'The Mabinogion' tale.
The Druids call this celebration, Mea'n Fo'mhair, and honour The Green Man, the God of the Forest, by offering libations to the trees.
The Welsh traditions know this time as 'Alban Elfed', meaning 'light of autumn'.
This is the point of the year when once again day and night are equal - 12 hours, as at Ostara, the Spring Equinox.
After this celebration the descent into winter brings hours of increasing darkness and chillier temperatures. It is the time of the year when night conquers day.
To astrologers this is the date on which the sun enters the sign of Libra, the scales, reflecting appropriately the balanced day and night of the equinox. This was also the time when the farmers brought in their harvested goods to be weighed and sold.
Harvest festival
This is the second festival of the season of harvest - at the beginning of the harvest, at Lammas, winter retreated to his underworld, now at the Autumn equinox he comes back to earth.
For our pagan ancestors this was time to reflect on the past season and celebrate nature's bounty and accept that summer is now over.
Harvest Home marks a time of rest after hard work, and a ritual of thanksgiving for the fruits of nature.
This is the time to look back on the past year and what you have achieved and learnt, and to plan for the future.
Mabon was when livestock would be slaughtered and preserved (salted and smoked) to provide enough food for the winter.
During Medieval times, the Christian Church replaced Pagan solstices and equinox celebrations with Christianized occasions.
The Autumn equinox celebration was Michaelmas, the feast of the Archangel Michael.
Nowadays the church generally celebrates this time of year as the harvest thanksgiving.
The Goddess
The triple Goddess is now in her aspect of the ageing Goddess and now passes from Mother to Crone. At the Autumn equinox the goddess offers wisdom, healing and rest.
Mabon Traditions
The Wicker man
There was a Celtic ritual of dressing the last sheaf of corn to be harvested in fine clothes, or weaving it into a wicker-like man or woman. It was believed the sun or the corn spirit was trapped in the corn and needed to be set free. This effigy was usually burned in celebration of the harvest and the ashes would be spread on the fields. This annual sacrifice of a large wicker man (representing the corn spirit) is thought by many to have been the origin of the misconception that Druids made human sacrifices.
'The reaping is over and the harvest is in,
Summer is finished, another cycle begins'
In some areas of the country the last sheaf was kept inside until the following spring, when it would be ploughed back into the land. In Scotland, the last sheaf of harvest is called 'the Maiden', and must be cut by the youngest female in attendance.
Corn Dollies
Corn dollies were also made from the last sheaf and kept in the house to protect the inhabitants from bad spirits during the long winter.
Apples
To honour the dead, it was also traditional at Mabon to place apples on burial cairns, as symbolism of rebirth and thanks. This also symbolises the wish for the living to one day be reunited with their loved ones.
To Autumn
O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained
With the blood of the grape, pass not,
but sit
Beneath my shady roof, there thou may'st rest,
And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe;
And all the daughters of the year shall dance,
Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers.
William Blake
Bright Blessings to all at Mabon!!!
|
anyhow apparently we need the rain .... because we are in for a scorching summer (so what's new I say)