Madron 2020

Last Tuesday (22nd September) it was Madron (more commonly known as Mabon) aka the Autumn Equinox. As I mentioned in the Baking for Madron post, my main celebration was baking. I made gingerbread cookie bars with cream cheese icing and I also baked some bread the day before. 

The gingerbread cookie bars are from Handle the Heat. Here's the recipe: https://www.handletheheat.com/gingerbread-cookie-bars-with-cream-cheese-frosting/

It was quite nice but a bit of a crumbly texture. Maybe because it's more biscuit/cookie like than a cake. Here's are a couple of pictures: 

Baking for Madron + Extra Ideas!

Madron (also known as Mabon and the Autumn Equinox) is coming up which means it's almost autumn! This year it will be on Tuesday 22nd September. 

For the past few years, I've written celebration ideas and inspiration posts for this sabbat. You can see them below: 

Madron/Autumn Equinox Celebration Ideas: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/09/madronautumn-equinox-celebration-ideas.html

Celebrating Madron + Autumn: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/09/celebrating-madron-autumn.html

Madron Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/09/madron-inspiration.html 

  

Note: If you're in the Southern Hemisphere it's nearly time for Oestara aka Ostara/the Spring Equinox. You may like these posts with ideas for celebrating:

Oestara/Spring Equinox Celebration Ideas: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/03/oestaraspring-equinox-celebration-ideas.html

Celebrating Oestara + Spring: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/03/celebrating-oestara-spring.html

Oestara Celebration Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/03/oestara-celebration-inspiration.html

Oestara + Spring Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/03/oestara-spring-inspiration.html

 

For Lammas last month I wrote a post with baking inspiration, since baking is my main activity for that sabbat. You can see that post here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/07/baking-for-lammas-extra-ideas.html

Lammas is a harvest festival, so baking fits the theme. Madron is also a harvest festival and as I mentioned in the Lammas post, Lammas to Samhain is like "baking season" for me. (I do enjoy baking year-round though!) So, this year for Madron I'm also sharing some baking ideas. With cases of the coronavirus going up again and rules changing, we're still advised to stay at home a lot, so baking is a good thing to do in the house. I will also include some alternative ideas at the end of the post. :) First here is some background on Madron.

July/August Update

Time for the July/August update! You can read the other updates at the links below:

Jan/Feb: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/03/januaryfebruary-update.html

March/April (+ Baking Inspiration): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/05/marchapril-update-baking-inspiration.html

May/June: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/07/mayjune-update.html

 

In July we were still in lockdown but things were easing up. More places opened up and coronavirus cases had gone down overall. But in certain areas they had spiked, so some local lockdowns were introduced. From 24th July face coverings were made mandatory in shops and supermarkets in England. (They were already mandatory on public transport.)

Libraries in Sussex opened for "Select and Collect" which I was pleased about! It was good to be able to get some new books.

We got a new family car which made it easier to get to places, especially since public transport has been more difficult during lockdown.

 

At the end of July, I went to Lancing Beach for the first time in ages which was good. Here are a couple of photos: