Old Gods and New Pagans
"Old Gods & New Pagans" is a welcoming space for new and curious pagans, heathens, and animists to explore the basics of paganism. Rooted in an Animist perspective, this podcast takes an inclusive approach, covering topics relevant to a variety of pagan paths. Each episode breaks down complex ideas into simple, easy-to-understand language, with guest discussions, stories, and insights. Whether you're just starting your pagan journey or looking to learn more, join us as we dive into the wisdom of the old gods and the practices of modern pagans.
Old Gods and New Pagans
Mabon to Mooncakes: A Journey Through Autumn Equinox Traditions
Join Matt Holloway on The Old Gods and New Pagans Podcast as he explores how various cultures around the world celebrate the autumn equinox. From the Welsh mythology-inspired Mabon to the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival and Japanese moon viewing tradition, discover the diverse ways humanity honors this moment of balance. Learn the history and significance of these celebrations and how to respectfully incorporate elements of them into your own seasonal practices. Whether you're drawn to Celtic traditions, curious about global customs, or eager to create a meaningful autumn celebration, this episode offers insights and inspiration.
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So what if I told you that right now, at this very moment, cultures all around the world are getting ready to celebrate the exact same thing, but calling it something different? From Welsh myths to Japanese moon viewing, today we're exploring how humanity has honored the autumn equinox. Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Old Gods and New Pagans podcast. I'm Matt Holloway and today we're diving into something special. September 22nd marks the autumn equinox, that magical moment where day and night are perfectly balanced. But here's what's fascinating While some modern pagans call this Mabon, cultures worldwide have been celebrating this event for thousands of years, each with their own beautiful traditions. We'll explore the Welsh mythology behind Mabon, discover how different cultures honor this same time of balance, and learn how you can create your own meaningful autumn celebration that respects these diverse traditions. Autumn celebration respects these diverse traditions. Whether you're drawn to Celtic practices, curious about global traditions or just love learning how different cultures find meaning in the same natural phenomenon, this video will open your eyes to the beautiful diversity of human spiritual expression. Let's start with the science because, honestly, it's pretty magical on its own. The autumn equinox happens when the Earth's tilt lines up to place the sun directly above the equator. Day and night are perfectly balanced, exactly 12 hours each everywhere on Earth. For our ancestors, this wasn't just an interesting astronomical fact. This was a crucial survival moment the official transition from the growing season to the time of preparation for winter. What's beautiful is how cultures worldwide recognize the same themes balance, gratitude for the harvest, preparation for darker times and honoring the cycles of life and death.
Speaker 1:In modern Wiccan and other neo-pagan traditions. We call this celebration Mabon, named after a figure from Welsh mythology, but here's something important to understand. This name is actually pretty recent, created in the 1970s by Aidan Kelly, co-founder of the new Reformed Orthodox Order of the Golden Dawn. Kelly was working to systematically balance the modern pagan wheel of the year and he needed a name for the autumn equinox celebration. He chose Mabon. Ap Maud from Welsh mythology, literally son, son of mother, a divine youth whose story is about liberation and triumph over darkness. Mabon's celebrations focus on gratitude, balance and preparing for the introspective time of winter. Think harvest seasonal foods like apples and squash, creating altars with autumn leaves, corn, practicing rituals to honor the perfect balance of light and dark. Now here's something crucial that I do want to address. While we're using the name Mabon today, we need to acknowledge that this isn't an ancient, unbroken tradition. It's a modern creation inspired by Welsh mythology, and that's totally okay. Spiritual practices evolve and adapt. What matters is approaching these celebrations with respect for their origins, while being honest about how we're adapting them.
Speaker 1:The autumn equinox has been celebrated worldwide for millennia. Let's honor that beautiful diversity. First, let's travel to China, where the mid-autumn festival, also called the Mooncake Festival, is one of the most important celebrations of the year. This isn't exactly on the equinox, but it's time to the full moon. Closest to it, families gather to admire the full moon, share moon cakes these beautiful little pastries, often with a lotus seed or egg yolk centers and tell stories about Chang Yi, the moon goddess. There's something so beautiful about millions of people looking up at the same moon, at the same time feeling connected across vast distances. Like Mabon, it's about family gratitude and honoring the celestial cycles. The round moon and the round moon cakes symbolize completeness and reunion and reunion.
Speaker 1:In Japan, tsukimi literally moon viewing is this gorgeous contemplative tradition. People set up moon viewing platforms decorated with pampas grass and offer dango these sweet little rice dumplings to the moon. There's something deeply meditative about Tsukimi. It's about appreciating beauty, impermanence and our connection to natural cycles, very different from the harvest focus of Western traditions, but equally meaningful. Across Britain, harvest home celebrations have deep roots going back centuries. Communities would gather after the final harvest, create corn dollies these intricate little figures made from the last eaves of grain and hold massive feasts. These weren't just decorations. They were believed to house the spirit of the grain through the winter, ensuring fertility for next year's crops. It's this beautiful blend of practical celebration and spiritual symbolism that's so magical.
Speaker 1:In Germany and many other Germanic countries, the Harvest Thanks Festival combines Christian and pre-Christian traditions. Churches are decorated with grain, fruit and vegetables, and communities hold processions and feasts. What I love about this is how you can see ancient harvest traditions continuing even as religious contexts have changed through the years. The core human need to give thanks for abundance transcends specific belief systems. Indigenous peoples across North America have celebrated autumn harvest for thousands of years as well, though it's important to note that these are living traditions, not historical artifacts. Many tribes honor the three sisters you know, the corn, beans, squash and hold ceremonies giving thanks for a harvest.
Speaker 1:Now I want to be clear. I'm sharing this to show the universality of harvest gratitude, not to appropriate or oversimplify incredible, diverse sacred traditions. Each people has its own specific practices that deserve respect and understanding. Continuing in ancient Greece, continuing in ancient Greece, thesmophoria honored Demeter, goddess of the harvest, and her daughter, persephone. This wasn't exactly equinox-timed, but it celebrated the same themes of harvest, death, renewal that we see in autumn celebrations worldwide. The story of Persephone's descent into the underworld perfectly captures that autumn feeling, the beautiful, sad acceptance that abundance must give way to the quiet, introspective time of winter. What's fascinating is how humans everywhere developed similar responses to this astronomical moment. Whether it's Mabon, Mid-Autumn Festival, harvest Home or any other tradition, we see the same core themes emerging.
Speaker 1:The equinox represents perfect balance light and dark, summer and winter, abundance and scarcity. Cultures worldwide use this time for reflection and assessment. Almost every tradition emphasizes gratitude for the harvest, for family, for making it through another year, and they're community-focused. This isn't a time for a solitary celebration. There's also this threat of preparation physically preparing for winter, also spiritually preparing for the introspective time ahead. Here's something beautiful and maybe a little heavy. Autumn celebrations worldwide acknowledge death as a part of life, not in a morbid, scary way, but as part of a natural cycle. The grain dies to become bread, leaves fall from the tree to nourish the soil and to feed microorganisms. Animals are harvested to sustain communities through the winter. There's this deep acceptance that sacrifice enables continuity. In our modern world we're often disconnected from these cycles, but the autumn equinox celebrations remind us that letting go, endings and transitions are natural and necessary.
Speaker 1:So you may ask how do we honor this beautiful diversity of traditions while creating our own meaningful celebrations? First, education and respect. If you're drawn to elements from specific cultures, take time to understand their context and significance. Do the research you need to appreciate and don't appropriate. Learn about those traditions, support the communities that maintain them and always acknowledge where practices originate. Our goal is connection and respect, not costume party spirituality. Not like picking and choosing all these things just because they're fun. Like connect with it. Respect those traditions, whether you follow a specific pagan path, practice eclectic spirituality or just want meaningful seasonal connection. Here are some respectful ways to celebrate Create a traditional Mabon altar with apples, grapes, autumn leaves and symbols of balance.
Speaker 1:Focus on gratitude rituals in preparing for the darker half of the year. Have a harvest dinner with locally sourced food. Share gratitude, thanks and spend some time in nature. No specific deities are required, just appreciation for the natural cycles and community. Combine some of these elements if they resonate with you, from different traditions, while absolutely maintaining respect for their origins. Maybe Chinese-inspired moon viewing with Celtic gratitude practices might be the thing for you. Here are some hands-on ways to celebrate that honor, using the universal themes that I've discussed.
Speaker 1:Cook with seasonal ingredients. Think hearty squash soups, pumpkin pies, fresh baked bread, apple pie. Share meals with others. Take time to acknowledge everyone who made that food possible the farmers, the workers, the earth itself. Create a simple balance ritual Light, two candles representing light and dark. Write down what you're grateful for on one paper and what you're ready to release on another. This captures that perfect equinox balance.
Speaker 1:Spend time outdoors collecting fallen leaves, some acorns, seasonal items for decoration. There's something powerful about physically gathering the symbols of autumn with your own bare hands. Many traditions emphasize sharing abundance. Consider donating to food banks, hosting a harvest dinner where everyone brings something they're proud of, or preserving foods to share throughout the winter months. Are you living in an apartment in a city? No access to traditional harvesting activities? No problem. Farmer's market visits, rooftop or balcony celebrations, indoor gratitude practices and even a virtual community gathering, like what the Pagan Temple is doing this year, all work beautifully. A simple windowsill altar with seasonal fruits, a gratitude journal practice, or even just taking time to appreciate the changing light throughout your own day. What I hope you take away from this is the beautiful universality of human spiritual expression. The autumn equinox has inspired celebrations worldwide because it represents something fundamental about the human experience. We all experience the same astronomical phenomena, the same seasonal transitions, the same need for community and gratitude. How we express these experiences varies beautifully across cultures, but the core needs remain constant.
Speaker 1:Whether you celebrate Mabon, are curious about other traditions or create your own seasonal practices, approach it all with respect, gratitude and a genuine desire to learn. I'm curious how do you personally connect with the autumn equinox energy? Are you drawn to Celtic traditions? Are you fascinated by other cultural practices? Do you create your own seasonal celebrations from scratch? Here's a challenge Research one autumn celebration from a culture that you're not familiar with. Learn about its history, its significance and how it's practiced today. Choose one I've mentioned in this video here. Share what you've learned in the comments, some little tidbits or little bits of information that you thought were just really cool. If you celebrate the equinox, share your traditions. Tag hashtag the pagan temple or hashtag pagan education. I'd love to see your posts, tag hashtag thepagantemple or hashtag paganteducation. I'd love to see your posts. I just love seeing how people create their own meaningful seasonal connections while honoring that cultural diversity.
Speaker 1:If you want to dive deeper into these traditions, check out thepagantemplecom. Join the community. We've got some really interesting conversations going on there, some discussions about different things. Definitely join us for learning about global spiritual traditions. Respectfully. Again, join the community.
Speaker 1:I especially recommend supporting indigenous or traditional communities who maintain these practices. Learn from authentic sources, not just modern interpretations, because as we approach this autumn equinox, I hope you find your own meaningful way to honor this time of balance and transition, whether that's through ancient traditions, modern adaptations or quiet personal reflection. What matters is genuine connection to the seasonal cycles that connect us all. Thanks for exploring these traditions with us at the Pagan Temple, where education builds understanding across all cultures. Until next time, may your autumn be perfectly balanced. May you be grateful and full of community. If you're not doing anything on Sunday, september 21st, make sure you're part of the Pagan Temple community and we're going to do just a meet and greet video chat with the Began Temple community. Join us, bring a dish, talk about it, tell us what connects you to this autumn equinox season. Thank you for joining us again and I hope to see you in the next one.
