Madron 2017

Last Friday I celebrated Madron aka Mabon/the Autumn Equinox. (It was on 22nd September this year). As I mentioned in my Madron Celebration Ideas post I chose to make a ginger apple tealoaf. It's a recipe from Sam Stern's Student Cookbook. I was originally thinking of making Bara Brith but decided I'd prefer to make this. This is basically the same recipe, although it's not credited to Sam: https://www.gourmandize.co.uk/recipe-47280-ginger-apple-tealoaf.htm

It was quite nice. I've baked gingerbread cakes for Madron before but they've come out too heavy with the treacle (molasses) in. The one I made in 2015 was better once you got used to it though. Last year I made a ginger beer cake and that was nicer. The tealoaf has dates and apple in but I think I should have cut the apple slices smaller. The lemon icing is made with lemon juice, a bit of rind and icing sugar, and was really nice. Here's a picture of the tealoaf before it was iced:

Madron/Autumn Equinox Celebration Ideas

It's Madron aka Mabon/the Autumn Equinox this Friday. Last October I started a post series of sabbat celebration ideas (I started with Samhain/Hallowe'en celebration ideas). So now, almost a year later I'm going to do one for Madron. :)

Note: If you're in the Southern Hemisphere then Oestara aka Ostara/the Spring Equinox is coming up. You can read some celebration ideas here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/03/oestaraspring-equinox-celebration-ideas.html


Madron is the second harvest festival (the first is Lammas and the third is Samhain), so along with Lammas, it's linked with grain and abundance. You can think about what you've "harvested" in the last few months or since last year. It's also a time of balance. Since Litha/the Summer Solstice, the days have been getting slightly shorter and the nights longer. (Since the beginning of September I've been noticing the difference, the sun sets just after 7 now). They are equal on the equinox day and then the days continue shortening until Yule/the Winter Solstice, after which they start getting gradually longer again and the light increases. 

Here's a post I wrote last year with some links to Madron info and suggestions for things to do at the Equinox: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2016/09/happy-madron.html

 

Update 17/9/23: I've tidied this post up a bit by removing old links or replacing them. 

And a couple more posts with more information:

https://newwicca.wordpress.com/tag/madron/

https://greenwitchfarm.com/mabon-celebrate-harvest/

End of Summer + Full Moon (Esbat) Biscuits

We've now come to the end of summer and are moving into autumn (in the Northern Hemisphere). Summer is my favourite season so I've tried to enjoy it this year. (I have anxiety and that often gets in the way of things). I enjoyed some summer drinks this year, including iced coffee and Costa Coffee's new Mint Choc Chip Frostino.

We had some lovely weather at the beginning of the summer here in the UK, then quite a lot of rain. But it got hotter again recently. These last few days it's been feeling more like autumn though! We've had Lammas and the next sabbat will be Madron, which I'm thinking of baking Bara brith for.

Last year I had car problems so didn't get to the beach much, but this year I've been several times. I thought I'd share some pictures I took at Shoreham and Worthing beaches recently. :)

Sunset on Shoreham Beach.