Harvest Home, also known as Mabon, the Autumn or Fall Equinox, the Second Harvest Festival, Festival of Dionysus, or Alban Elfed (Druidic), is one of the quarter days or low holidays on the Wheel of the Year, and it is usually celebrated on or about September 21, although the astronomical equinox may fall a few days earlier or as late as September 25. At the time of Harvest Home, day and night are equal in length, just as they were at the time of the Spring Equinox on March 21.
The term "equinox" describes an astronomical co-ordinate and the expression "fall equinox" describes the day on which the sun seems to pass directly over the equator on a long journey south, moving away from our northern hemisphere. Of course, things are actually the other way around, and it is the earth which is in motion, with the northern hemisphere tilting away from the sun at this time of the year. The tilting is caused by a slight wobble or in astronomical lingo precess, and as a result, the earth is actually about 23 degrees and 27 minutes off true perpendicular as it spins merrily on its own axis. Earth's wobble determines how many hours of daylight and darkness we receive at various times of the year, and it engenders the four glorious seasons which constitute our calendar year.
The ancient Celts probably celebrated Harvest Home on September 25, and as was their custom, they would have commenced their festivities at sunset on September 24th, but modern practitioners of the Craft usually observe Harvest Home on September 21. The month of September was known to the early Anglo-Saxons as Haleg-Monath or Holy Month, and it is likely that the name was derived from the ceremonies and festivities which traditionally followed the grain harvest. In the old Teutonic calendar, September 21 also marked the beginning of the Winter Finding, a ceremonial interval which lasted until Winter Night on October 15, the date of the old Norse New Year.
At Harvest Home, the sun enters Libra, the astrological sign traditionally represented by balanced scales, and this is appropriate given the fragile balance in which the whole cosmos is poised on this day. Occurring at a point in the year when day and night are again equal in length, Harvest Home represents a time of balance and equilibrium in the natural cycle (as does the vernal equinox), but the thoughts which move us now are not the thoughts which captivated us in Spring. At the time of the vernal equinox, our thoughts turned from winter toward the lengthening hours of sunlight, the greening fields and gardens, and the new life bursting forth everywhere. Now with the harvest completed, the crops gathered in, and the nights becoming longer, we pause to enjoy the warm slanted sunlight of these golden autumn days, to give thanks for summer's bounty and to prepare ourselves mentally for the coming winter.
The gods associated with Harvest Home are harvest (particularly the grape harvest) or vegetation gods such as Dionysus and Bacchus, gods in their maturity like Thor, Mabon, Thoth and Hermes, and nature spirits like John Barleycorn. The goddesses of this time are also mature deities associated with abundance, harvest, home and hearth, and they include Demeter, Ceres, Hestia, Modron, Morgan, the Muses and Persephone.
Like the seven other festivals or ritual observances on the Wheel of the Year, the feast of Harvest Home has been appropriated and reconfigured by the Christian Church. In Christian tradition, the festival of Harvest Home is associated with St. Michael the Archangel whose feast takes place a few days later on September 25 (Michaelmas). The archangel Michael shares many attributes with the Celtic deity, Lugh, for like Lugh, Michael is associated with horses, shining spears, flaming swords, and the eternal battle between light and darkness. Michael is also the patron of high places, and there are shrines dedicated to him on rocky hills and mountains all over the British Isles, St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall, Skellig Michael in County Kerry, St, Michael's chapel on Glastonbury Tor (now in ruins) and Mont St. Michel in Brittany, to name just a few. One of my favourite fall blooms, the glorious purple aster which brightens the bronze September fields of the Lanark Highlands is also associated with St. Michael's Day, and it is known as the Michaelmas Daisy.
In ancient times, the spirit of the harvest was believed to reside in the last sheaf of corn or wheat standing in a field, and the cutting of the last sheaf was always accompanied by great ceremony. The last sheaf was treated with fear and respect, and each worker was reluctant to be the one who felled the last sheaf and killed the spirit of the harvest. After harvesting, the sheaf was carried carefully from the field and placed on a farm cart which had been dressed up for the occasion. Both cart and occupant were driven back to the village with song and ceremony, and they were usually accompanied by an honour guard of field workers.
There is a wealth of Harvest Home customs and traditions involving the last sheaf. One involved the weaving of a large figure representing the corn god or vegetation spirit, and the figure was later burned as a sacrifice - this custom may have been the origin of the widely held belief that the early Druids practised human sacrifice. One should remember, however, that there is not a single eyewitness account anywhere of such an event ever taking place, and no archaeological evidence to support such an theory. It seems rather unlikely, for we know that the Druid priesthood held life in such esteem that they refused to take up the sword and defend themselves when confronted by armed Roman legions at Mona, and their refusal to defend themselves resulted in their deaths. The law forbade a Druid to touch a weapon for any reason whatsoever, and anyone who even unsheathed a sword in the presence of a Druid committed an offence which was punishable by death. There is, however, an abundance of folklore about the enactment of mock deaths at Harvest Home, and this may be where the charges originated.
Landlords usually provided workers with a sumptuous meal to celebrate the end of the harvest, and such meals were famous for the prodigious amounts of food and alcohol consumed as well as for the singing, dancing and revelry which followed them.
In the Lanark Highlands, the last hay has been cut, and only stubble remains in the fields which are full of grazing Canada Geese gathering nourishment and strength for their long journey south. The swallows, swifts and bluebirds have already departed, but the telephone wires are still lined with congregating grackles and starlings. It will not be long until the loons leave our northern lakes, and that is always a sad day, for I dearly love their haunting melodious calls. The oak, ash, maple and beech trees are already turning, and the hills become more colourful with every passing day. Walnut, butternut and oak trees are heavy with nuts and acorns, grapes hang heavy on the vine, and the rowan or mountain ash trees are covered with bright red berries - local lore says that one may predict the severity of the coming winter by the yield of berries on the mountain ash tree. Autumn produce and apples from local orchards have already begun to appear in markets and at roadside stands, but it will be a few weeks until the first Macintoshes of the season have been touched by frost and are ready for eating. During this month, the Wild Hunt is abroad, and on the long cool September nights, we listen for the clamour of horsemen overhead and the howling of their ghostly hounds.
Harvest Home represents a brief interval of rest, reflection and thanksgiving between the completion of the grain harvest and the last frenetic activity of putting food by for winter. There are still farm animals to be driven home from summer pastures, produce to be pickled, canned (hermetically sealed) and "put down", firewood to be cut and stacked, apples to be picked and pressed into cider, grapes to be harvested and turned (magically) into wine. September is a time of domestic alchemy, and there is always so very much to do.
The motifs of Harvest Home are those of stored abundance, fruit, nuts, vines, pine cones, Indian corn, sheaves of grain and gourds. The essential activities of this time include the making of corn dollies, autumn wreaths and wheat weaving, baking, preserving and the making of apple cider and wine. It is usually around this time that I find myself thinking about gathering seeds for planting next Spring, about planting fall bulbs, and about designing a new quilt - its piecing and stitching will occupy me during the long winter nights and provide us with pleasure for years to come when we touch each brightly patterned piece and remember where the fabric originated. When Harvest Home arrives, there simply must be an autumn wreath on the front door, and there must be a huge pot of bronze chrysanthemums on the front steps.
