Autumn Equinox

September 23, 2023………..Early this morning at 2:50 am EDT, Earth awakened to a new season.

It’s again the time of the autumn equinox, and the harvest is winding down. Most of the crops have been harvested and stored for the coming winter.

And it’s the time of the mid-harvest festival, when our ancestors honored the changing seasons and celebrated the second harvest and Mabon.

Mabon was the Pagan term for the Autumn Equinox which occurs annually between September 21st and 23rd. It’s the first official day of Fall, then known as the Witches’ Thanksgiving. It was the welcoming of the harvest and the last farewell to the long days of Summer. Following the Autumn Equinox, the days begin to become shorter than the nights. 😒

In ancient Celtic times, Mabon was a time where the some of the women descended from the hills where they were caring for the livestock and children, to aid the men in harvesting the crop. Feasts took place, which were, for some, a precursor 💕to marriage. But everyone feasted and celebrated the abundance of the earth. 😄

Mabon was also the name of the Welsh Celtic god of light, death, resurrection, the harvest and much more. He was the eternal embodiment of youth and immortality. Anda very busy god, indeed.

MABON

Our agrarian ancestors were badly affected by the enormous loss of sunlight that followed the apex of the summer solstice. Desperate to see the Sun again after the long, cold winter— which they often barely survived — they welcomed its warming rays in Springtime😁.

On or around September 21 it was a Pagan tradition to give thanks for the things they had, whether it was abundant crops or other blessings. It was a time of plenty, of gratitude, and of sharing their abundance with those less fortunate.

Each September marked the Fall equinox (or autumnal equinox). Stonehenge is only one of the ancient monuments marking the solstices and equinoxes which survive today.

The Celts held no monopoly over Autumn. 

The Greek goddess Persephone was strongly connected to the time of the Autumn Equinox. When Hades, God of the Underworld, abducted her it set in motion a chain of events that eventually led to the earth’s falling into darkness each winter. 😒

The Autumn equinox marked the return of the goddess Persephone to the underworld for three months, where she was reunited with her husband, Hades after she had spent the Summer with her mother Demeter and the community of gods on Mount Olympus..

This somber event, as recorded by the ancient Greeks — who saw the work of the gods in all natural events — reflected the feeling of the Autumn, when the brilliance of the Summer receded into the more muted tones of September.

Persephone’s connection to the seasons is clear. “She was queen of the Underworld, as wife of Hades. She was also associated with the new life that rose with the spring.

She emerged from the ground to the blooming of flowers and the warm sun every Spring Equinox, rejoining her mother Demeter for the long summer days. 😄

So, as the ancient Greeks knew, the return to the darkness of Autumn and Winter is not permanent. Spring will come once again. And everything good will return once more to Earth.😁

PERSPHONE

The Blind Poet’s Vision of Spring

With the coming of spring the light will be gaining.
So after Brid’s feast day I’ll set my course –
Since it entered my head I’ll never rest easy
Till I’m landed again in the heart of Mayo.

I’ll spend my first night in the town of Claremorris
And in Balla I’ll raise my glass in a toast,
To Kiltimagh then, I could linger a month there
Within easy reach of Ballinamore.

I testify here that the heart in me rises
Like a fresh breeze lifting fog from the slopes.
When I think on Carra and Galen below it,
On Sceathach a’ Mhile or the plains of Mayo.

Killeadan’s a place where all good things flourish,
Blackberries, raspberries, treats by the score,
Were I to stand there again with my people
Age would fall from me and I would be restored.

 — Anthony Raftery (1784-1835). Translation by Michael Coady