Page 37 - September 2022 Magazine - Bumper Edition

The feasting to celebrate Mabon would also have had a practical purpose. It would have been an (albeit brief) much-needed break from the constant toils of harvest time, which would have been hard labour from dawn till dusk to gather the crops.
Whilst Mabon is a relatively recent reference to the second of the Harvest Festivals, ‘Harvest Home’ and the feasting, singing and dancing associated with it, would have been practised by the most ancient of our ancestors, they clearly comprehended that the wheel of life was turning.
From this point on, the daylight hours would grow shorter. The verdant land would slowly transform to the magnificent reds and gold’s of autumn and there was a chill in the morning air.
But the harvest was in! - Time to celebrate and bring the community together - Which they knew was vital to surviving the long, dark, cold days of winter.
The importance of the celebrations were not lost on the Christian faith, and as it did with virtually all pagan celebrations, renamed Mabon and declared the 29th of September to be the Mass of St Michael, (Michaelmas).
This was in recognition of his role in the war of heaven and his defeat and casting out of the angel Morningstar (best known to his mates as Satan aka Lucifer).
Whilst an obvious point in the year to celebrate, for our ancestors it would surely have also been a time for both reflection and preparation. They all knew what the next turn of the wheel of life would bring.
Picture painted by Severine Pineaux 'Cheval-d-automne'
The Flickering Cauldron® Magazine - Autumn Equinox | 37