MABON: CELEBRATION AND DECORATION IDEAS

What is Mabon?

Mabon is one of the eight critical points on the Wheel of the Year. It marks the official transition from the light half of the year to the dark half of the year.  Because it begins on the autumn equinox, the amounts of daytime and nighttime are perfectly balanced. From here on out, the days will grow shorter until Yule.

Mabon is neo-pagan holiday all about the harvest. It is a modern celebration that encompasses many different traditions and events from around Europe and North America. Think of this day as a "pagan Thanksgiving." The name Mabon comes from the Mabinogion, which is a collection of stories and texts from Wales.

I personally treat the Sabbats/Wheel of the Year as seasons. What this means is that it will be Mabon until it is Samhain. I use the official day as a sort of kick-off event or marker. Towards the end of Mabon, bits of Samhain will begin to bleed through. A good way to understand this is like how we begin to see signs of spring before winter has concluded.

Correspondences/Decorations:

Harvest foods and plants: corn, pumpkins, apples, acorns, chestnuts, grains

Candles: yellow, orange, brown, green, and gold

Symbols: scarecrows, crows and other scavenger birds, wheat, pumpkin

Themes: protection, abundance, gratitude

Incense: apple, sage, cinnamon, oak, rosemary

Celebrations & Rituals:

Create a protection scarecrow: try mine!

Visit a pumpkin patch or corn maze.

Learn to make apple cider.

Hold a harvest feast: I recommend all American practitioners celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving, as it is correctly aligned with Mabon. It is always the second Monday in October.

Connect with harvest oriented gods and goddesses.

Visit your local cemetery and help tidy up.

Connect with autumnal animals: squirrels and chipmunks, crows and scavenger birds and amphibians and fish (especially salmon).

Create a cornucopia.