The Egyptian Sphinx points directly toward the rising Sun on the equinox. Her mother, Demeter, Goddess of grain and harvests, was so heart-broken that everything stopped growing until Persephone returned the next spring. In Greece, Persephone had to return for six months to her husband Hades in the netherworld because she had eaten six pomegranate seeds when she first was kidnapped by Hades. A feast was celebrated with a goose which had been fed on the remains of the grain in the fields after the harvest. In Rome the celebration was dedicated to Pomona, goddess of fruits and growing things. Some groups draw on Greek, Roman, Egyptian, or Mayan beliefs.
It is celebrated with a goose fed on the last grain of the season (as in Rome), is when debts are collected, and is the time for fairs. Often a large glove was hung above the fair, symbolizing the handshake of promises and openhandedness and generosity.Ĭhristian Britain replaced equinox traditions with the feast of Saint Michael, also known as Michaelmas or the Feast of Michael and All Angels, on September 29. Large wickerwork figures were also constructed to represent the corn spirit and burnt in mock sacrifice. What we call corn, or maize, is a New World grain.) Corn dolls were drenched with water representing rain or burned to represent the death of the grain spirit. (Note that “corn” was a general name, and refereed to any grain, including barley and oats. In England, the last stalk of corn harvested represented the “spirit of the field” and was made into a man-shaped doll. (It’s not clear to me what this has to do with the equinox.) The name of the Teutonic celebration, Winter Finding, lasts from the fall equinox to October 15th, Winter’s Night, which is the Norse New Year. In Gardnerian Wicca it is called Autumnal Equinox, and in the 1970’s it started to be called Mabon, after the child of the Divine Mother who was kidnapped as a baby and rescued by King Arthur. Modern Druids call it Mea’n Fo’mhair or Alben Elfed and honor the Green Man, the God of the Forest, by offering wine and cider to trees. Modern Celtic-based Pagans call it by many names: Harvest Home, Festival of Dionysus, Wine Harvest, Harvest of First Fruits, Cornucopia, the Feast of Avalon, and the Second Harvest Festival. Note that it is the fall equinox only in the Northern hemisphere: in the Southern Hemisphere it is the spring equinox.Īpparently the fall equinox was not celebrated in Celtic or Anglo-Saxon countries. (I have mistakenly listed it on September 21 on all the calendars I have compiled, because my group started their rituals on the evening before holidays.) This year it is on September 22. It can vary from September 22 to September 24, depending on the day that the sun crosses the equator. The fall equinox occurs all over the world on the same day, and every culture marks it in some way. For that reason, I try and describe traditions from as many cultures as possible in the hopes that something may ring a bell for you.
It’s often hard to tell what tradition a particular Satanic group uses to design its rituals. The “coming events” page has been updated.
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