Happy Harvest Full Moon and Mabon From The Urban Priestess JessCarlson Mabon: The Second Harvest Within the spiritual traditions of modern Paganism, Mabon is a big and often boisterous celebration. When someone asks a Pagan to explain what Mabon is many Pagans will explain it as being akin to the American tradition of Thanksgiving. In many ways the two celebrations hold many similarities; these are both harvest traditions, both as a time of reflecting and giving thanks, and both are celebrated with large feasts. But there are some other elements to Mabon that make it more of a spiritual celebration than Thanksgiving. Mabon is the second of three harvest festivals that happen during the year, named for the Welsh Son of Light. The first is Lughnasadh, also called Lammas which translates to “loaf mass”. Lughnasadh takes place during the beginning of August and is the gain harvest. Grains are harvested and collected and then divided up into what can be used now for bread baking and ale making and what needs to be saved for the winter. Mabon follows and this is often seen as the “big harvest”. This is when the majority of what you will have for the winter months comes in. Fruits and remaining grains are harvested and divided up. The earth is prepare for the coming winter and farmers would work by the light of the moon late into the evenings to make sure that they have taken in all they can. This is where the name for the September full moon is derived; the Harvest Moon would offer enough light for workers to keep going well into the night. Along with food being stored seeds are also collected and stored during the second harvest. This is an important part of the harvest because these seeds are the assurance that there will be crops to place for the next year. The last of the three harvests happens around Samhain, which happens takes place over October 31st and November 1st. This is the meat harvest with the October full moon name, the Blood Moon, also reflecting this. During the end of October and beginning of November any animals that were able to be slaughtered were and the meat would be smoked, salted, cured, and stored for the winter months. As the last of the three harvest Samhain marks the true moment of death in the earth around us and everything falls into a state of cold and slumber as we head into the time of the winter solstice. During these agricultural times these three harvest festivals would be accompanied by many rituals, prayers, and offerings to the land and to the various Gods and Goddesses of the earth. Whatever came in during these three harvests were all you had for the winter. There would already be a lingering knowledge in the back of the mind that not everyone who would gather around the harvest feasting table would be there at the next harvest, but if you had a poor harvest or didn’t come away with enough seeds for the next year, it was even more of a worry. Because these harvests could be the difference between people living or dying, they were both worked hard and with much honor but also celebrated, giving gratitude and thanks to the land and honoring one another while everyone was still together. This is part of why many people make this comparison of Mabon to the American Thanksgiving because it does have a number of similarities to it right down to the food that we make and share during these Mabon feasts. From the moment of the autumn equinox the sun’s light is diminishing, so we honor the time we have together before we start taking shelter from the cold, going out less, and going through a very natural process of retreating inward during the winter months. Like many of the Pagan sabbats and celebrations, Mabon is know by more than just one name depending on the specific tradition that it is celebrated within. Some other names for this celebration are: • Alban Elfed - the Druid celebration with the name meaning “Light of the Water” • Gwyl Canol Hydef - the Welsh autumn equinox • Festival of Dionysus - honoring the Greek God of Wine during this time when grapes are harvested for wine making • Harvest Home - the English celebration of the final harvest, also called Ingathering, where people hold different festive gatherings in their homes, often accompanied by decorations of seasonal boughs, feasts, singing, and corn doll making with the last corn sheafs of the season. • Wine Harvest - marking the height of wine making
Posted on: Thu, 19 Sep 2013 16:17:54 +0000
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