A Family Guide to Celebrating the Pagan Sabbat Mabon

Mabon – Autumn Equinox

Mabon is the celebration of the Autumn Equinox and the second and main harvest festival of the Wiccan Calendar. (First harvest is grains, third meat) It marks the beginning of the fall season on September 22nd. On an equinox there is an equal amount of day and night. It is another time of balance, this time with the change over from Summer to Winter, activity to rest.
During the Autumn Equinox, the Goddess appears as the Bountiful Mother, and the God appears as the Corn King or Harvest Lord who is losing his strength as he gives up his life so that his people will have food to eat and therefore survive throughout the winter. 

Mabon was named for the Celtic God of Youth, Mabon. According to Michael Jordan in his book Encyclopedia of the Gods, Mabon was, “The son of an earthly mother, Modron. According to legend he was abducted when three days old. Also a god of hunters and fishermen.” 

Since this is the time to harvest crops and gardens, the September moon is called the Harvest Moon. 

People all over the world take this time to be thankful for the blessings and gifts they have received. Whereas the American holiday of Thanksgiving is at the end of the harvest season, Mabon is at the beginning. 

Although Mabon in general celebrates the harvest, you do not need to have a large garden in order to participate. If you can only manage container gardening, or windowsill gardening, that is fine too. Many items can be grown in small containers, such as herbs, and hanging gardens are becoming more and more popular. Vine type of plants can be grown from hanging baskets such as tomatoes and berries. Perhaps you know of a friend or relative who has available land and is willing to share the land for a garden as a trade for having help taking care of the garden. 

Other than harvesting food from a garden, there are many wonderful ways to celebrate Mabon and to give thanks to the Goddess and God for all that we have. 

The Roman’s celebrated the Wine Harvest in honor of the God of the vine and of resurrection at this time of the year.