Mabon

Mabon is a Celtic Fire Festival celebrated on September 20, 21, or 22, depending on when the Autumn Equinox falls and the length of day and of night are once more in perfect balance. So like its polar opposite, Ostara, Mabon marks a turning point, only instead of turning outward towards the coming Summer we begin to focus inward, as we prepare for the long, dark Winter to come. Mabon is the great festival of Autumn’s end. From now on the days will get shorter and the weather colder. Astrologically, it occurs under the sign of Libra - the Balance - my own birth sign and a fitting symbol of balanced light and darkness. In Rome, this equinox marked the festival of Dionysus, the God of Wine and Revelry. In Celtic times, Mabon conceded with the festival of Harvest Home, remembered in today’s church liturgy through our own Harvest Festival services. Mabon celebrates the end of the second harvest of nuts, apples, grapes and berries, and harvest berries and drupes feature in the weft of my Mabon weaving.The dyestuffs in my Mabon weaving include Weld, Weld over dyed with madder to give me orange, Coreopsis and Dyer’s Coreopsis, Tansy, lots of different colours obtained from the French Marigolds that are currently running riot on my allotment, Yarrow, Acer Buckthorn, Flowering Currant, Elderberries, cultivated and wild Blackberries and Sloes. The weft pattern of interlocking purple and gold represents the balance between light and darkness.