Autumn equinox rituals mark the moment, on or around 22 September in the Northern Hemisphere, when day and night are close to equal and the nights begin to win. Most draw on the harvest: giving thanks for what the year has produced, sharing food, preserving what will keep, and taking stock before winter. Many modern pagans call the festival Mabon, though the name is recent, and you can mark it simply with a harvest meal, a gratitude list and a clear-out.
The September equinox in plain terms
Twice a year, the Sun crosses the celestial equator, the imaginary line in the sky above Earth's equator. In September it crosses heading south. For the Northern Hemisphere that's the start of astronomical autumn; for the Southern Hemisphere, it's the start of spring, and their autumn equinox comes in March.
"Equinox" means "equal night," and on the day itself, day and night are nearly the same length everywhere. Because sunlight bends through the atmosphere and the Sun counts as risen as soon as its top edge appears, the day of truly equal light and dark in the north arrives a few days after the September equinox. After that, the nights lengthen quickly until the winter solstice.
The date moves between about 21 and 24 September depending on the year and your time zone, with 22 and 23 the most common.
Harvest traditions around the equinox
People have celebrated the end of harvest for as long as there have been harvests. Some customs land close to the equinox:
Harvest Home and the church harvest festival
In rural England, the bringing in of the last load was celebrated with a Harvest Home supper for everyone who had worked the fields. The church harvest festival, with produce piled around the altar, is younger than many people assume: the Cornish vicar Robert Hawker of Morwenstow is usually credited with holding a harvest thanksgiving service in 1843, and the custom spread through Victorian England. Other clergy held similar services around the same time, so he wasn't the only one.
The last sheaf
In many parts of Britain and Ireland, the last sheaf of grain was cut with ceremony and plaited or woven into a figure, sometimes called a corn dolly, then kept indoors until the next year's harvest.
Michaelmas
The feast of St Michael on 29 September was a quarter day in England, when rents were due and hiring fairs were held. A goose was the traditional dinner. Folklore says you shouldn't pick blackberries after Michaelmas, because the Devil has spoiled them, which is a colorful way of noting that late berries turn watery and moldy.
Higan in Japan
The week around each equinox is Higan, a Buddhist observance when families visit and tend ancestral graves. Autumnal Equinox Day is a national holiday, and the traditional sweet is ohagi, rice balls covered in red bean paste.
Chuseok and the Mid-Autumn Festival
Korea's Chuseok and the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival fall on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, which usually lands in September or early October, near but not on the equinox. Families gather, honor their ancestors and share seasonal foods such as songpyeon rice cakes in Korea and mooncakes in China, under the full moon. The full moon nearest the September equinox is also the one called the Harvest Moon in English almanacs; our guide to the Harvest Moon explains why it seems to rise early night after night.
Where the name Mabon comes from
Mabon is the newest of the Wheel of the Year names. In the 1970s, the American pagan writer Aidan Kelly chose it for the autumn equinox festival, borrowing it from Mabon ap Modron, a figure in medieval Welsh tales who in one story is rescued from long imprisonment. There's no known historical link between that character and the equinox, and some pagans prefer to call the festival simply the Autumn Equinox, Harvest Home or the Second Harvest, after Lughnasadh's first grain harvest in August.
None of that makes the festival less meaningful for those who keep it. In Wicca and many pagan traditions, it's a sabbat of thanksgiving and balance, and it sits opposite the spring equinox, which our spring equinox rituals covers. Our guide to the Wheel of the Year shows how the eight festivals fit together.
Seven autumn equinox rituals to try
- A balance ledger. Draw two columns. On the left, write what the year has given you so far; on the right, what it has cost. Then choose one thing to rebalance before the end of the year.
- A harvest table. Cook with what's in season: squash, apples, blackberries, root vegetables, fresh bread. Invite people who helped you this year and say so out loud.
- The apple star. Cut an apple across its middle, not top to bottom, and you'll find the seeds arranged in a five-pointed star. Eat the halves while you name five things you've harvested this year, literal or otherwise.
- Preserve something. Make jam, dry herbs or freeze a batch of soup. Putting food by is the oldest equinox ritual of all, and it's useful.
- Clear out before winter. Go through one cupboard or one wardrobe and donate what you won't use in the cold months. It's the autumn mirror of spring cleaning.
- Take a dusk walk. Go out at sunset and notice how much earlier it comes than it did in June. Bring home a fallen leaf, an acorn or a seed head for the windowsill.
- Write a thank-you note. One letter to someone whose help this year made a difference. Our gratitude ritual has more on writing it.
If you light candles for the harvest table, keep them on stable holders, away from dried leaves and seasonal decorations, which catch easily, and never leave them burning in an empty room.
The autumn equinox in astrology
In Western tropical astrology, the September equinox marks the Sun's entry into Libra, the sign of the scales. It's a neat fit: the moment of balance between day and night opens the sign associated with fairness, partnership and weighing things up. Read more about Libra traits.
In tarot, Libra is linked with the Justice card, which shows a figure holding scales and a sword: an image of honest accounting that suits a season of taking stock.
Questions readers ask
When is Mabon?
Mabon is celebrated at the autumn equinox, on or around 22 or 23 September in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, where autumn begins in March, many pagans celebrate it around 20 or 21 March.
Is Mabon a real pagan holiday?
Yes, it's widely celebrated in modern paganism, but the festival as named is modern. The name was chosen in the 1970s, while harvest celebrations themselves are far older and found in many cultures.
What do you eat at an autumn equinox celebration?
Whatever is being harvested where you live. Apples, pears, blackberries, squash, root vegetables, nuts, bread and cider are traditional in Britain and much of North America.
What does the autumn equinox mean spiritually?
For many people it's a time for gratitude, balance and preparation: giving thanks for what the year has brought, weighing what's working, and letting go of what you won't carry into winter. The meaning is in what you choose to reflect on.
