CHAPTER 1
The Autumnal Equinox
and Harvest Home
Come Roger and Nell,
Come Simpkin and Bell,
Each lad with his lass hither come;
The beginning of the autumn season officially commences in September with the Autumn Equinox. As the sun enters the astrological sign of Libra, the hours of dayand darkness are equal to one another, just like the balanced scales of Libra itself. From this point of the year, with each passing day, the daylight hours become noticeably shorter and the weather starts to cool. Autumn is a season of shadows and a time of wanlight, but it is also a season of abundance, thanksgiving, and harvest.
Ancient people realized the importance of the sun to life on earth. In the time after the equinox, the sun appears to be growing weaker, losing its battle against the darkness. To help the sun regain its former strength, people held harvest festivals of light featuring torches and bonfires as an act of sympathetic magick to encourage the sun to return.
Autumn has always been our colorful season of reward. As the sun began to decline and its yearly job was finished, the people gratefully gathered in the field crops. The grains from the fields, the fruit from the orchards, and the vegetables from the garden were harto be safely stored away for winter. Everyone in the community was involved in the harvest, as folks needed to make sure they could gather in their crops before they spoiled or were ruined by inclement weather.
At the end of the harvesting, the people were worn-out but happy and looked forward to a celebration. No matter where on earth the harvest is celebrated, from mid-August throughout the month of September, there is a basic and profound magick in the hearts of all people as they gather around with friends and family to feast and to celebrate the abundance of the earth.
Autumn Equinox or Mabon?
A Harvest Festival No Matter How You Look At It
The word equinox actually comes from the Latin word aequinoctium, which means "equal night." September, the seventh month of the Roman calendar, is taken from the Latin word "seven," septem. In Gaelic the month is identified as An Sultuine, the month of plenty. In Welsh it's called Medi, the month of reaping. The Anglo-Saxons called this month Gerst moanth, the barley month. Barley was thought to be the first grain grown in Britain.
One of the modern names for this autumn sabbat was taken from the Welsh god Mabon. The story of Mabon and his mother, Modron, is as follows: Mabon was taken from his mother as she slept when he was only three nights old. Modron's cries of anguish were so great that a search or quest commenced to find the missing child. At this point the story ties into the Arthurian legends as some of King Arthur's knights, or the king himself, take up the quest to find Modron's son. They eventually rely on the wisdom of the five wisest animals to help them: the blackbird, the stag, the owl, the eagle, and the salmon.
Eventually the child was discovered to be quite safe. He had been sleeping in his mother's womb or, depending on the version of the story, resting in the Underworld. In a plant analogy the child was resting just as a seed must rest beneath the earth before it can face the sunlight and brave the challenges of sprouting, growing, and flourishing. Now that Mabon's time had come, he was ready to face the world as God of Light and to be reborn as his mother's champion.
This mythology eventually became wrapped up and associated with the celebration of the Autumn Equinox. For many Wiccans and Pagans this is a bit of a puzzle. How did this sabbat end up with this name, anyway? I never really did come to a conclusive answer. But it sure does make me wonder . . . maybe that's why there are so many different titles and names for this particular sabbat today. However, no matter what name you call this sabbat, the Autumn Equinox is a magickal time of balance and plenty.
The majority of magickal traditions do celebrate this second harvest festival of the year as one of the fruits and the late grains. All around us signs are everywhere in nature, hintof the shortening days and cooler nights to come. The leaves are beginning to turn and the birds are beginning to migrate south. Apples and many varieties of squash are ripe and ready to be harvested, and the grapes that were harvested just a few weeks before, in late August-early September, begin to be processed into wine.
In modern times, when few of us are so intimately linked to the land, the enchanting autumn festival of harvest can be a time to reap what good deeds you've sown. And, no matter where you live, you can still feel that connection to the seasons as they change. On this day of the autumnal equinox, the sun will rise at true east and then it will set straight at true west. So if you ever wondered where the cardinal points were exactly, here's your big chance.
This is the perfect occasion to consider balance and harmony and how these forces are at work within your life. On this day, whether you call it the autumnal equinox or the sabbat of Mabon, this is your opportunity to celebrate the earth's bounty and gather in the fruits of your labors. This holiday is the Witch's Thanksgiving. So let's be thankful for all the blessings that we have.
Here are a few of the many mythologies, harvest festivals, and harvest customs from around the world. Take a look at these and notice how the common theme of the great Earth Mother is tied throughout them all.
Various Harvest Goddess Mythologies
Throughout the world, in many mythologies, a goddess of the grain, the harvest, and the good earth was venerated at the Autumn Equinox. This is not surprising, as the Earth itself is seen as a fertile mother, or Gaia. From this matriarch all life was born. She is a great mother goddess who was known by many names throughout time and in numerous cultures. Some of these names include Astarte and Ishtar (to the Sumerians), Isis in Egypt, Demeter in Greece, and Ceres in Rome. To the indigenous people of the Americas she was known as Old Woman Who Never Dies and the Mother of Maize.
The harvest mother, Demeter, was a Greek goddess of grain and the fertile earth. Her characteristic of being the "spirit of the grain" is well-known in many cultures as Mother Earth's child. This child was represented by the seeds that fell from the mother plant, which would then be planted for the following year. Demeter would be visualized as the ripe crop of this year while her daughter, Persephone, would be the seed taken from it to be sown the following spring.
The spirit of these future crops could be seen as a daughter, a maiden (such as Perseor as a divine child. In Russia the child was simply called the Corn Baby. In Egypt the spirit of the grain was the goddess's son, Horus. The Aztecs called the harvest goddess Chicomecoatl, while a goddess named Xilonen was Goddess of the New Corn. Her son was symbolized by the seeds and called the Spirit of the Corn. The Cherokees called the harvest child the Green Corn Girl.
In other parts of the world such as southern India, there is a harvest festival called PonThis is a rice festival that lasts for three days. On the first day folks thank the gods for the rain that blessed the earth and that granted them a successful harvest. The second day is spent honoring the warmth and light of the sun that helped the plants grow tall. The third day of the festival honors the cattle who have helped to plow the fields and to bring in the harvest. It is traditional to decorate the horns of the cattle with paint, ribbons, fruit, and f lowers. The child who came from this harvest mother was called the Rice Baby.
Harvest festivals are as plentiful as the crops produced in the counties in which they are grown. There are harvest festivals for corn, onions, pumpkins, apples, yams, grapes, hops, rice, barley, wheat, and sugar cane. In all parts of the world communities gather together to feast, to sing, and to dance as they celebrate the successful end of the growing season.
Looking on the happy Autumn-fields, And thinking of the days that are no more.
alfred, lord tennyson
Romancing the Harvest
Without a doubt the most frustrating aspect of researching this historical section was the general lack of information about Autumn Equinox customs. Some reference books claimed that in medieval Europe folks worshiped Demeter as a Corn Mother. Hold on a second . . . corn (or maize) is a native American plant, as in indigenous to the Americas. Did they even have corn in the Middle Ages in Europe? There was such a mishmash of information and customs tying into both the other harvest festivals of Lughnasadh (or Lammas) and Samhain that I began to wonder what in the world to do. I spent weeks trying to track down legitimate harvest custom information.
Many of the folk customs that modern magickal people insist are from the "ancient" celebration of the autumnal equinox, or what modern Witches call Mabon, were actually tied into the first major grain harvest of the region. At my best estimate that would have probably occurred in the month of August. Bummer . . . I needed something for mid- to late September, around equinox time.
Still, there was some information linking Autumn Equinox customs back to Harvest Home celebrations and, of course, to the Celtic festival of Samhain. There was a tempting thought-I could always take a look at the festivals when the first crops were brought in, at Lughnasadh, and the celebration of the third harvest, where everything was stored away in preparation for winter, at Samhain.
But what about what we know today as the Wiccan holiday that falls on the Autumn Equinox? The title "Mabon" is, quite honestly, a fairly new name for this harvest festival. So I searched a little harder but kept coming up with more conflicting informati...
