The Autumnal Equinox in many Neopagan
traditions is called Mabon (a term which seems to have originated with Aidan
Kelly in the 1970s) or in some druid traditions, Alban Elfed. This is the time
of year when the balance that shifted in favor of daylight at Ostara shifts
back in favor of the darkness. After this night, the nights will be longer than the days, and nobody can deny that winter is coming.
Autumn is also a time of harvest. The apples
and gourds are ripe here, the winter vegetables are getting ready for harvest
(beets and turnips, parsnips and onions). The greens are all past their prime,
but the land is still bountiful and fertile.
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| Photo by Kamimoku International Village via Wikimedia Commons CC-Attribution-Share Alike-Unported 3.0 |
The name Mabon refers to Mabon ap Modron, a
figure in Welsh legend, Mabon is almost more of a title than a name, the Divine
Son of the Divine Mother. Maponos is a Gaulish equivalent, who would be the son
of one (or all) of the Matrones. Whether they had a festival is unknown, there
isn’t any evidence that the Celts marked the Equinox, let alone celebrated this
particular deity at that time, but it is as good a time as any to recognize the
near universal legends of the Dying and Rising God.
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