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| Mabon is the major harvest festival on the seasonal Wheel of the Year. It's also known as the fall or autumnal equinox and, in folk terms, as "harvest home."
Astrologically, Mabon occurs when the Sun enters Libra, balancing night and day equally. It is the halfway point between summer and winter and a time of joy, sorrow, and change as days grow shorter and winter advances. Plants wither and die, trees drop their leaves, and the first frosts arrive. We mourn the passing of light but celebrate the harvest, aware that life's Wheel has turned again. There are no ends, nor beginnings-only the spiraling continuance of life eternal. In the Scottish highlands, the cutting of the last sheaf of wheat means the falling of the harvest spirits. The final bit of wheat is braided into a "corn dolly" effigy and featured prominently in communal celebration. The part ends with the effigy being buried in the empty fields, a symbolic sacrifice to ensure the fertility of the lands in the coming year. Make your own corn dolly and bury it in your garden, beseeching the lands for fertility and success: "The trees are standing bare, and the wheat is bending down. May fortune smile down upon this blessed sacred ground." |
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