Celebrate the Fall Equinox (or Mabon) with Your Kids

Sometimes it can be hard to find ways to involve your children into your rituals and festivals. The Fall Equinox, or Mabon, is a great holiday to celebrate with little ones. The Fall Equinox is one of the harvest festivals. It's a time of balance between light and dark, but with the balance now starting to tip towards darkness and winter. We start harvesting in preparation for the cold months ahead.

At this time of year, Nature provides us with her bounty. We gather fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains. In response to the Goddess and God's generosity, we should give thanks, make offerings, and help others. In fact, the American holiday of Thanksgiving originated with the old Harvest Home customs in Europe, when people celebrated the last sheaf of grain to be harvested. The Goddess at the Fall Equinox manifests as the Crone, the wise old grandmother. She teaches us to rest after we have worked so hard with our summer labors. In the Celtic myths of the British Isles, the Goddess of this time was called Modron. It was Modron's son who was taken away into the Underworld, similar to the Greek myth of Demeter's daughter, Persephone, who spends half the year in Hades. One of the names for this holiday takes its name from Modron's son, Mabon. He was imprisoned in the Underworld until he was rescued by King Arthur's companions. This is the God we celebrate at the Equinox. He is the spirit of the grain that is "rescued" in order to be eaten. He celebrates freedom and is the champion of all those unjustly imprisoned. He protects that which is wild and free.

To prepare your altar for the Fall Equinox, you can include some of the things you've been harvesting (preferably things that will keep for a few weeks. If you live in the city and don’t do any harvesting yourself, most of these things can be bought at a grocery store, or at a local farm. You can display squash, dried corn, herbs, and pumpkins. Other good items to include are fall leaves, flowers, or pictures/statues of animals.