4 Easy Ways to Celebrate Mabon and the Autumn Equinox
Autumn has almost arrived… If you're wondering how to celebrate Mabon and the Autumn Equinox on 22 September, there are plenty of simple and meaningful ways to welcome the second harvest.
The pagan festival of Mabon falls at the turning point between the sun-drenched days of summer and the long, cold nights of winter. Traditionally, it marks the second harvest, an important point in the agricultural year when communities gathered the fruits of the season and prepared for the darker months ahead.
At its heart, Mabon is a time for gratitude: a chance to recognise the gifts the year has brought us and reflect on what has sustained us. While this gratitude was once closely tied to the bounty of the earth and the harvest, today it can extend to the people, experiences and small comforts that enrich our lives.
S
o, beyond counting your blessings, how can you mark this fruitful festival? Below, we’ve gathered a few simple ways to celebrate Mabon and embrace the arrival of autumn.
Apple Picking
Grabbed a loved one, a knit scarf, and a flannel shirt, and head out to a nearby orchard for some trendy photo ops and juicy autumnal apple varieties, like Gala, Honeycrisp, Golden Delicious, and Granny Smith. If you’re a fan of cider, raise a glass and toast Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, protagonist of ancient Greek myth, and the true originator of Sad Girl Autumn.
Snow White & the Huntsman (2012, Universal Pictures)
Decorating Your Space
Bring the Mabon magic into your home by decorating your space with cosy autumnal touches. Natural items like sunflowers, pumpkins, pressed leaves, or dried corn cobs are great additions to an altar or decorative bowl, and shades like rust, burnt orange, olive green, and mustard yellow add a festive pop of colour.
Suspiria (1977, Seda Spettacoli)
Baking (and Sharing) Autumnal Desserts
Whether you pick your apples from your local orchard or the grocery store, baking an apple pie for a sweet feast is a wonderful (and tasty) way to celebrate the harvest season. If you’re not a huge fan of apples, that’s okay—you can bake a tasty, shareable treat with pears, figs, or even grapes!
Cobweb (2023, Lionsgate Films)
Spending Time in Nature
Take advantage of the waning warmth before the winter chill takes hold. Grab a notebook and do some solo journaling under a tree, or call up your coven, grab some pumpkin spice lattes, and head out to the park for a picnic, and maybe some light hexing—who am I to judge?
The Witch (2015, A24)
Stay weird,
Valeska
Weird Sisters: Covenant
And in the process of practicing gratitude and gift-giving, late pledges are still active for Weird Sisters: Covenant, our forthcoming collection of nine enchanting essays exploring witches in film and television.
If you or someone you know missed out on supporting this book, now is a wonderful time to pre-order your copy!
Learn more about the project (and its exclusive perks) and secure your spellbook here.