Mabon Traditions and a Recipe
Take a seed in your hand. This is a seed born of the summer’s harvest. Although the days are growing shorter and you may feel a slight chill in the air, that seed represents a promise made from the earth to you. It is a promise of rebirth, of the life that will thrive next year. The festival of Mabon is all about that promise.
Mabon is named for the Welsh god of youth. He is also a death god. In this perfect balance of youth and death, Mabon represents perfect balance as a guardian of the gate to the Summerland. A patron of hunters and fishermen—and an accomplished hunter himself—Mabon is traditionally honored at the great autumn harvest.
The Autumnal Equinox is also an example of perfect balance, as night and day meet in equal lengths. In fact the word equinox means “equal night”. This phenomenon which determines the turnings into spring and into fall has been observed and celebrated for thousands of years.
Embrace Mabon as a point of perfect balance. Take this time to explore where you are. Consider where you are and where you’re going.
Celebrating Mabon can include lots of harvest delicacies, but one of the most festive and fitting is zucchini bread. Follow this simple recipe to make your own.
2 cups sugar 1/2 cup vegetable oil 2 eggs 3 teaspoons vanilla 3 cups grated zucchini 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoons baking soda 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 3 cups flour 3 teaspoons cinnamon (or more)
1 teaspoon nutmeg (or more)
Mix all ingredients together. Bake in greased loaf pan at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Mead is a popular beverage for any of the festivals of the year. This harvest version is non-alcoholic and can be made just ahead of time.
2 gallons apple juice
1 liter ginger ale
1 pound honey (any kind)
3 teaspoons cinnamon
3 teaspoons cloves
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
1 sliced apple
Combine the liquid ingredients in a saucepan and place over medium heat. Slowly stir in the honey. When the honey has become part of the liquid bring the entire mixture almost to boiling. Reduce heat to a low level and stir in the spices. Let it simmer for fifteen minutes to a half hour. You can serve this warm or chilled.
An appropriate craft for Mabon is to make necklaces of dried seeds. Again the seed is symbolic of a promise of life again after the coming of winter. You can purchase seeds or you might want to go out and gather your own. Acorns are especially significant. Using a needle, poke a hole in each seed and string them like beads onto a strong string. This makes a thoughtful gift for the sabat.
For Mabon incenses and oils, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove make excellent base ingredients. A good incense will include equal parts of each spice. For an oil you can purchase prepared oils and blend them. You can also steep the spices in an oil such as olive or grapeseed to gain the scent and the potency of the spices. Figure on two tablespoons of spice for every half ounce of oil.
Happy Mabon!
Start something new this Mabon. Keep a seasonal broom!
And what is a seasonal broom? Imagine taking a plain broom and decorating it for the Days of Power. But decorating for one day is no fun. When you decorate, do it for the season that surrounds that Day of Power.
I’ve had a decorated broom in my home for fifteen years. I keep my seasonal broom proudly displayed in my livingroom. Of course people ask questions, and often they think it’s a creative and special idea. It’s a great introduction to talking about the Craft and Pagan paths.
In a sense keeping a seasonal broom can help you stay in contact with the Wheel of the Year and reaffirm your commitment to your path. At Imbolc, you can think about how to decorate for Beltane. This way you are reminding your inner self that yes, you are serious about this path and you will still be walking it in the future.
When I talk about a broom, I don’t mean the long kind you would use to sweep the floor. The broom should be smaller, such as the kind sold in handcraft stores. I use a Halloween broom I received as a gift several years ago. These costume brooms are actually ideal for both decoration and for ritual purposes. Another advantage is a low price. Remember that it doesn’t matter how or where you get your broom. What counts is the power and effort you will put into the decorating.
Decorating can be a costly endeavor. I urge you to keep two suggestions in mind. If you’re going to buy your decorations at a craft or fabric store, buy items out of season. That is, after Yule is a great time to purchase new decorations for the following Yule. My other suggestion is to take a careful look at your local dollar or other budget store. I have found some amazing things that make wonderful brooms. Don’t let the low price fool you. With a little imagination you can go far.
Let’s begin with the Mabon broom, as that is the season we are entering. For the harvest festivals I use artificial fruit with a golden shimmer. The handle of the broom is wrapped in soft gold ribbon, which is a contrast to the bright gold I use in the spring and summer. I have a garland of changing leaves that I wrap around the handle and leave hanging.
For Samhain I have a special sheer cobweb pattern ribbon that I bought out of season. As it is my tradition that Samhain is a festival of the other side, I keep the broom veiled in black fabric. Sometimes I will ass little seasonal touches, but mostly I like to keep it plain.
Yule means decorating with a generous hand. I wrap a pine garland along the broom handle. A few years ago I found a small silver garland with dangling suns and moons. Little pinecones adorn the entire broom. Finally I add a big red bow at the top of the handle and where the handle meets the straws.
My Imbolc broom is my favorite. I start with gossamer dark blue and silver ribbon. The sun and moon garland from Yule stays. Along with big silver bows, I add little silver snowflakes.
The Ostara broom sheds all the traces of the winter brooms. I use a pastel ribbon for the handle. Since it’s just the beginning of flower season, I use an artificial branch of forsythia and a few tufts of baby’s breath. The basic idea is soft rebirth.
At Beltane I introduce the passion of the building season. The forsythia stays and is joined by bold red roses. I entwine red and deep green ribbons along the handle, and include a thin gold ribbon.
For Litha, I decorate my broom with the full, sensual blooms of summer—bold red roses and tropical flowers. This broom is a celebration of the senses to reflect the run reaching its very peak.
Lughnasdh is the beginning of the harvest cycle, and so the bright life of the Litha broom is replaced by a more subtle suggestion of the harvest. For this I hang a variety of artificial fruits and vegetables of the harvest, such as corn cobs and grapes. The strong gold ribbons of the fertility festivals are replaced with a softer gold, reminiscent of the softer sunlight of the fall.
And so the Wheel of the Year has turned and we have come to Mabon again.
Remember that there is no one way to decorate your broom. Try to represent what the spokes of the Wheel mean to you personally in your dressing of the broom. Additionally, as you work with your broom, try to really imagine yourself working for the Day of Power. Feel it and let it inside of you. Connect yourself to the Wheel of the year and to nature itself!
Lights for the Ancestors
My freshman year of college was the first time I celebrated Mabon without my family. That year I decided to bring the old tradition to my newly adopted family—my friends from the dormitory. No one else practiced the Craft, or at least not consciously. But the idea of celebrating the Autumnal Equinox appealed to them. They asked me how we could hold our own Mabon, and so I opened up the family circle to them.
In our family the basic theme for Mabon is Lights of the Ancestors. As the sun bows into the darkness, we send lights with our thoughts of those who have gone before us. Candles provide some of this light, but the real stars are little walnut shell boats bearing small candles that we set afloat. All four elements are represented. The air above guides the boats on the water. Earth is the land on which we gather. As Water is represented by itself, the lit candles bring fire.
A walnut is a tangible symbol of Mabon. It is the promise of rebirth within the shell. Lights of the Ancestors uses both the shell and the meat. Carefully crack open about a dozen walnuts, preserving both the walnut and the shell halves. Set the nuts aside for the ritual feast.
You will also need three votive or vigil candles, a drink for the libation and to share with the earth, birthday candles, and a lighter or matches. Lights of the Ancestors should be performed next to a body of water. My college group went to a lake just off campus. If this is impossible, use a filled bathtub or sink basin.
Arrange your materials so that the water lies to the west of your ritual area. Place the candles to the east, north, and south, allowing yourself enough room to work. Concentrate and think of people who have touched you in some way. Now assemble the ancestor boats. Take half of a walnut shell. Let a little wax from a birthday candle drop into the shell and then fit the candle in the wax like a mast.
As you light the candle in each boat, think about the people of your past. Place the boat on the water. Repeat this until you have a small flotilla before you. After some quiet meditation, eat some of the walnuts and leave some for the earth. Then drink your libation, leaving enough to pour on the ground. It is done.
You probably noticed that I did not include any circle castings or ritual words. I believe you need to supply these for yourself. Don’t worry that you’ll do something wrong. As long as you are in touch with yourself, there is no wrong way. May your Mabon be an abundance of meaning!
