Mabon from Brythonic Polythists and Welsh Scholars

https://www.godeeper.info/blog/who-is-mabon

https://ynysafallon.com/2021/09/on-mabon

https://www.history.co.uk/articles/mabon-the-pagan-festival-that-marks-the-autumn-equinox

https://sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/mab/mab16.htm

About Naming Ostara, Litha, And Mabon

Aidan Kelly (patheos.com)

This sabbat is commonly known in many Neo-Pagan circles as Mabon. Welsh scholars and historians have shared frustration that most who use the name Mabon to refer to the fall equinox do not, indeed, have any knowledge of Mabon the deity, or of the Mabinogion (pronounced Mabin-OGion), a collection of 14th-century stories written in Middle Welsh. However, it seems a good time to learn a little more about Welsh Mythology.  

A quick summary about Mabon-  He was abducted by his mother when only three nights old, and lost to all. While his full mythos was lost to time,  stories in the Mabinogion center around his birth, his abduction, his rescue, and in regaining his name. His mother, Modron is a fertility goddess, and he is the spirit of youth and a symbol of perseverance and strength in the face of adversity.  

So, how did the fall equinox get named after Mabon?  A prominent member of the Pagan community, Aiden Kelly was writing a book on religious holidays and calendars.  He was inspired to craft a similar resource just for Pagans, which was shared in Green Egg in the 1970s.  

However, the story of Mabon only has a few very superficial similarities with Persephonie’s story: none of which being anything to do with the changing of seasons from Summer to Fall. The myth of Mabon being kidnapped from his divine mother and subsequently rescued from imprisonment in the underworld was similar enough to the myth of Persephone that Kelly felt it fit. The name "Mabon" gained popularity through its use in the Green Egg and subsequent publications and became part of the larger Neo-Pagan vocabulary.

While arguably less romantic than the name of a Welsh deity, Mabon various European farming communities have traditionally gathered near the September Equinox to celebrate the harvest. In England and various Anglicized regions of North America, the festival was called “Harvest Home” or “Ingathering.”  At these festivals the entire community would celebrate the fruits of this labor-intensive season.  There are rituals around the last sheaf or last stalks of the harvest. Of bringing in the spirit of the grain in to be sheltered to ensure a prosperous future.  Even things like our State Fair, various harvest rituals, hay rides, apple picking and Oktoberfest have their connection to the tradition of fall Harvest rituals.