The Wheel of the Year cont. - Mabon
Of the next Sabbat, I have little to say. It is named Mabon (or Harvest Tide, or Harvest Home, or Second Harvest, or Wine Harvest) and it is simply Thanksgiving. While Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November, Mabon is celebrated on the autumnal equinox. It can be aptly described as a festival of giving thanks for the fruits of the earth and a recognition of the need to share them during the winter. Decorations traditionally include acorns, pinecones, and seasonal flora. A feast is customary, with seasonal vegetables and dishes. I feel as though I do not need to elaborate on the traditions or lack thereof.
When it comes to the name, I will be completely honest and say that I am baffled. The name for the Sabbat was coined around 1970 by Aidan Kelly, in reference to Mabon ap Modron from Welsh tales.
Mabon ap Modron is, as was said, a figure found in Welsh tales. He is the son of Modron and a member of King Arthur’s war band. He is most featured in Culhwch and Olwen. He is also, likely, a pre-Christian Welsh deity, along with his mother. His name is related to the Romano-British god Maponos, a name which means “Great Son”. Modron, his mother, in turn, is likely linked with the Gaulish Dea Matrona. Both figures likely fulfilled a dual role, the god of youth and sons, and the goddess of mothers and motherhood.
I bring this to light because I genuinely do not understand the choice to name the Sabbat after him. The only source I have uncovered on the choice is
Creating Circles and Ceremonies: Rituals for All Seasons and Reasons
Per the book’s introduction to the Sabbat:
“Mabon, or Autumn Equinox, is named for the Welsh God of the Harvest, Mabon ap Modron (‘divine son of the divine mother’). As told in the Mabinogion, Mabon was stolen from his mother three nights after his birth, and dwelt in Annwfn (the Underworld) until he was rescued by Culhwch. […] He is the Green Man whose blood is an intoxicating beverage; Dionysos (wine), Osiris (beer) and John Barleycorn (whiskey). The bay tree is sacred to Mabon […]
Dear reader, I do not say this lightly, but… WHAT? I’m sorry to break with the academic tone that this work has been trying to keep, but I genuinely do not know what to say. There are so many problems with this small excerpt, let alone the rest of the book, that I don’t understand coming to or believing. First of all, I have encountered zero models of the pre-Christian Welsh religion that has Mabon ap Modron as a harvest god, but conflating him with the Green Man??? For those unaware, the Green Man is a folk name for Amaethon, the hypothesized god of Agriculture who would likely have also overseen the harvest. They are two very different beings. The only way I could see this mix-up happening is… Amaethon is also in Culhwch and Olwen? There’s also the over-emphasis of Annwn as the Underworld, which it might have been, or might not have been.
Then there’s what looks like a conflation of Mabon as being the same figure as… Dionysos? And Osiris? Neither of which have anything about their blood intoxicating you? I had to research John Barleycorn for this, by the way. He’s the personified barley, beer, and whiskey protagonist of a folksong by the same name, with some scholars thinking it might have been a piece of folklore that survived, with Barleycorn being potentially linked to the wicker man ritual. Kathleen Herbert argued that there was a potential link to Beowa (Beaw, Beōw, Beo, or Bedwig) who was a figure we’ve reconstructed from Anglo-Saxon religion associated with barley and agriculture. Barleycorn is the sole figure with a blood thing going on, seeing as the song is about his suffering, death, and resurrection, and celebrates the “reviving effects of his blood” which is why some scholars think it might be a Christ thing.
There’s also the bay tree being linked with Mabon ap Modron which…??? The texts we have available indicate that his deific version was linked with dogs and bears!
I… just… I have so many questions. Why? What? Even the attribution of Aidan Kelly being the name-giver comes from this book! Whilst it would fall in line with his beliefs, as he founded a separate branch of Wicca called the New Reformed Orthodox Order of the Golden Dawn (with no relation to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn) and was initiated into Gardnerian and Feri Wicca. It’s possible that he names it that in his most controversial work “Crafting the Art of Witchcraft”, but the work is separated into four volumes and the first one is 120 dollars, so… Aidan Kelly is actually where a lot of early Wicca information comes from, seeing as Crafting the Art of Witchcraft was written when he could study pages from a Book of Shadows said to have been typed by Gardner himself, as well as a manuscript titled “Ye Bok of ye Art Magical” from Gardner’s former Museum of Witchcraft. My references say Aidan Kelly, but link Creating Circles and Ceremonies: Rituals for All Seasons and Reasons which is their source…I’m frustrated.