![]() ![]() ![]() The word ‘Equinox’ is derived from Latin, meaning ‘equal night’. You can check out my blog about the Spring Equinox here. Servants were paid their wages after the harvest, and workers looked for new jobs at employment fairs which also became a place for celebrations.Autumn equinox at the Chalice Well WHAT IS THE AUTUMN EQUINOX?Įquinoxes occur twice a year one in the Spring and one in the Autumn. Centuries ago in England, the time around Michaelmas also had a business side. These days, Michaelmas is a minor festival mainly observed in the Catholic church. The Christian celebration closest to the September equinox is Michaelmas, also known as the Feast of Michael and All Angels, on September 29. The most widely celebrated is Christmas, which replaced the ancient Yule festival around the December solstice. The Christian church replaced many early Pagan celebrations with Christianized observances. In the UK, followers of the Wicca religion, druids, and pagans also gather at Stonehenge, the famous 5,000-year-old site in Wiltshire, and at Castlerigg, another megalithic stone circle near Keswick in Cumbria, to watch the sunrise on the day of the equinox. Mabon celebrates the second harvest and the start of winter preparations, and it is the time to respect the impending dark while giving thanks to the sunlight. Inspired by a proper name derived from the Welsh word mab/map, which means “son” or “boy, Kelly chose Mabon as the name for the autumnal equinox celebration, and he based the ceremony that he composed for the festival in the Greek myth of Persephone. The Sabbats are celebrations based on the cycles of the sun. ![]() In the 1970s, American author Aidan Kelley assigned new names to the six Sabbats rooted in ancient Celtic lore and added two new celebrations of his own around the September and March equnioxes. Mabon is a relatively modern Neopagan celebration, which takes place around the September equinox. Sunrise at the megalithic stone circle Castlerigg in Cumbria, UK. During these months, Demeter refused to use her divine skills to make plants grow, explaining why we have three months of winter every year. Every fall, Persephone would return to the underworld to spend three months with Hades. She was a goddess who was abducted from her mother, harvest goddess Demeter, and taken to the underworld to become the wife of Hades, the god-king of the underworld.Īfter a period of mourning and struggle, Demeter eventually got her daughter back from Hades, but only for nine months of the year. In Ancient Greek mythology, the onset of fall is closely linked to the story of the abduction of Persephone, also called Kore or Cora. However, the most famous ancient myth comes from Greece. The Romans held a festival dedicated to Pomona, goddess of fruits and growing things. Harvest TimeĪs leaves turn yellow and fruits and vegetables ripen, most traditional celebrations of the autumnal equinox, when day and night are nearly equal, are associated with harvest.ġ0 Facts: September Equinox Persephone's Return to the Underworld Seasons are opposite on different sides of the equator, and in the Southern Hemisphere, it is the vernal (spring) equinox. The myths and traditions described below are rooted in cultures of the Northern Hemisphere, where the September equinox is the autumnal (fall) equinox. For millennia, these four turning points have played important roles in human culture. ©/Rostislav_Sedlacek Start of a New SeasonĮvery year there are two equinoxes and two solstices, which mark the start of a new astronomical season. Most traditional celebrations of the autumnal equinox are associated with harvest. Business Date to Date (exclude holidays). ![]()
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