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TOP | RELIGION | NEO PAGANISM

Equinox ritual

To: alt.religion.wicca,alt.pagan
From: ipfoot@ic.ac.uk (Ian Paul Foot)
Subject: Re: Equinox ritual
Date: 22 Sep 1995 09:29:04 GMT

In article <43nstu$7qa@news1.radix.net> Corbie  writes:

> 
> Aaaaargh!  No, no, no!  There is no such ancient Celtic holiday as 
> Mabon!
> 
> Oh, you mean the MODERN wiccan holiday of Mabon?  The one that's been 
> made up in the last few years?  Sorry.  I'm getting cranky on the 
> subject.

> 
> Happy Equinox,
> 
> Corbie

You're right, you are getting cranky on the subject.  The original
poster did not say "ancient Celtic holiday", he said:

> Hi... I was wondering if someone could please post a nice ritual for
> Mabon.  I'm a solataire getting together with a couple of friends to
> celebrate and I'm looking for a few ideas for a small group.

However, you are completely right to say that it is a modern festival.
I know an ex-member of Gerald Gardner's coven who said that originally
they only celebrated 6 festivals (Imbolc, Beltane, Midsummer, Lammas,
Samhain, Yule).  They always had a feast on each festival and since
some members of the coven were very fond of feasts, they asked Gardner
if they could celebrate the Equinoxes too.

Gardner replied that it was not traditional, but that they could if
they wanted.  This was around 1958.  In the early 1960's other groups
also adopted the Equinoxes.

The Equinoxes were celebrated by Mediteranean pagans but not by the
Celts or any other ancient British pagans.

The term "Mabon" for the Autumn equinox is almost certainly incorrect
and seems to have first come into use in America sometime during the 
1970's.  It is not used by British witches & pagans.  It is also
mythologically inaccurate since Mabon represents the young sun (or
young God) and the Autumn equinox is the waning sun (or God).


Bright Blessings from England on a bright and sunny Autumn Equinox.

Ian
---

PS.  Hi to all the old (and new) people here, especially Mark, Susan (Tinne)
and Raven.

Don't forget to visit the Pagan Federation Web site:

http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~ipf/pf.html

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