NORSE HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS

The ancient Germanic/Norse year was divided into two seasons: Summer and Winter. Summer began at the festival of Eostre, close to the Spring Equinox, and Winter began at the festival of Winternights, close to the Autumn Equinox. Between these two festivals was the festival of Midsummer ( Lithasblot ) at the Summer Solstice, and the festival of Jul ( Yule ), at the Winter Solstice. There are other minor festivals that are celebrated in between these four major ones, listed below in the table.

Ostara, Spring Equinox

Ostara: Vernal (Spring) Equinox, Alban Eiler (Caledonii)
Around March 21
The Spring Equinox is the point of equilibrium – and it celebrates the arrival of Spring, when light and darkness are in balance but the light is growing stronger.

Mabon Background

Background:
Mabon marks the Second Harvest, the end of the grain harvest (which begun at Lughnasadh), and rests on the Autumn Equinox. The Equinox mirrors dwindling of life (and eventual progression to rebirth), as well as the struggle for balance; day and night are equal for a single day. The pagans of old didn’t have the ability to determine astrological positions as we do today. The Europeans, therefore, celebrated this Sabbat on September 25th; actually.  The Celts marked their days from sundown to sundown, so the Mabon celebration actually started on the sundown of our September 24th. Today, with the help of our technology, we can calculate the exact day of the Equinox; the date when the sun enters the sign of Libra, the Balanced Scales, which appropriately fits the Equinox. In the Wiccan tradition we celebrate from sundown of the 21st to sundown of the 22nd. September 25th is a medieval holiday which the Church Christianized under the label of “Michaelmas,” a feast in honor of the Archangel Michael. It is thought that the Roman Catholic Church at some point considered assigning the quarter dates to the four Archangels, since they had assigned the cross quarters to the four gospel-writers. Making the Vernel Equinox a holiday called “Gabrielmas” was taken into consideration in honor of the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary on Lady Day. This Sabbat can also be known as: the Second Harvest Festival, Feast of Avalon, Cornucopia, Wine Harvest, the Fall Equinox, Harvest Home, the Autumnal (or Autumn) Equinox, Festival of Dionysus, Alban Elfed (Caledonii, Druidic), Winter Finding (Teutonic), or Equinozio di Autunno (Strega). The full moon closest to the Autumn Equinox is called the Harvest Moon, and farmers would harvest their corps by this moonlight as part of the Second Harvest celebration.

Mabon, Autumn Equinox

Mabon (Celtic): Autumn Equinox, Winter Finding (Teutonic), Alban Elfed (Caledonii)
Around Sept. 21
During Autumn,we begin to see the waning of the Sun more obviously now as the days continue to grow shorter until the Wheel of the Year spins around again to Yule. At the Autumn Equinox, the days and nights are equal. It is a time of balance, but light gives way to increased darkness.

AUTUMN EQUINOX / MABON

North-September 21

South-March 21

 

The Fall Equinox, or Mabon, is celebrated as the final harvest of the season. This holiday was pivotal in ancient times, since a good final harvest was crucial to surviving the winter months ahead. This is the time of year where we truly reap what we have sown and we prepare for the long winter that lays before us. The day and night are again equal in time and the God has traveled at last to His place of rest. Now, He has sacrificed the last of Himself to provide us with a final harvest of food before the winter begins. Celebrants gather to mark the turning of the wheel and to give thanks for the ultimate sacrifice of The God, recognizing that He will be reborn at Yule. This holiday has been called “The Witches’ Thanksgiving” and is a time for feasting together with family and friends. This is also the time to welcome the season of the Crone. Kore’ goes to the Underworld to learn the secrets of the Crone (or in some stories she is kidnapped by Hades), and the earth is bare as Her mother, Demeter, mourns Her loss. But although the winter is before us, we know that the wheel will turn again, life will be reborn, and our blessings are bountiful.

A Mabon rite outline

(soon to be a major Mabon Ritual, at a terminal near you.)

General Mabon info to start with, set the mood &c…

What is Mabon?

Mabon, sometimes known as the Harvest/Thanksgiving ritual of the Autumn Equinox, is one of the Spokes of the Wheel of the Year. In the many Earth or Pagan Religions, a special kinship with the passing of the seasons is felt… this is usually due to the history of said traditions, most of which stem from agrarian cultures where the seasons marked the way of life. From planting to reaping to winter to summer… the seasons were of great importance to our ancestors, for their very existence depended upon good harvests, mild winters, enough rainfall, and the like.

Mabon / The Autumnal Equinox

by Blathnaid (a/k/a Erin Scott)

 
Mabon is a Sabbat of celebration for the abundance of the harvest; a time meant for us to give thanks through song, dance and feasts. This is a time of balance, when day and night are equal once again; a time of meditation and introspection; a time to slow down the pace of our lives and to relax and recognize our own personal harvests during the year that is fast declining; a time to appreciate the connection we have with those around us, as well as those who have gone before us. It references the sense of community that this harvest festival fosters, for it’s through our kinship with those close to us that we endure through the long, dark, cold nights of Winter. The Autumnal Equinox is a time when we prepare our personal harvests, gathering those experiences transpired over the past year(s), bringing them within, making them a part of who we are – allowing them to die, regenerate into wisdom, and be reborn within.