Madron 2021

The other week it was Madron, (more commonly known as Mabon and the Autumn Equinox). It was Wednesday 22nd September this year. I was going to do a post last weekend, but was a bit busy, so I'm doing it today instead. :)

As I mentioned in the Madron Round-up + Autumn Baking post, my usual celebration for this sabbat is baking. This year I made some gingerbread muffins. You can see the recipe here: https://simplybeautifuleating.com/2020/10/05/super-moist-gingerbread-muffins/

They are kind of like some I made in 2019. As with those, I substituted the banana for apple sauce, since I don't like bananas. I also used treacle because it's easier to get here in the UK than molasses and it's similar. I made a few other substitutions too- mixed spices rather than cloves and nutmeg, "ordinary" milk instead of cocount or nut and sea salt rather than kosher. If you don't have or don't want to use kosher salt, here is a guide about what type you can use instead: https://www.acouplecooks.com/kosher-salt-substitute/

I made cream cheese frosting, using the one from the James Martin White chocolate Easter cake I like. I've used that frosting in the past and it goes well with ginger things. Here's a direct link to the cake and frosting recipe: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/frosted-white-chocolate-easter-cake

The muffins were quite nice and the substitutions worked ok. They were a bit heavy when first done but "settled" the next day. Here's a picture: 

 

I also baked some bread but used a mix this time. I didn't feel like baking it from scratch this year! I did make bread for Lammas though, lol. I used a Tesco crusty wholemeal bread mix and made a loaf. It was nice and I had some with some cheese and pickle for my lunch the next day, basically a Ploughman's. Here's a pic of the bread:

 

 

I had some Bunderburg ginger beer on Madron too. 

In the evening I went up to my local nature reserve on a hill and took some sunset pics. It was a lovely sunset. You can't predict what it's going to be like (last year there wasn't much of a sunset), so it's always nice when you get a good one. Here are a couple of photos: 

 

Sunset on Mill Hill, Shoreham-by-sea.

 

So now we're officially in autumn. It's been feeling "autumny" lately. The temperature has been around 18 to 20C (around 64 to 68F) during the day and 11-13C  (around 51 to 55F) at night. But one night it was 5C (41F), so definitely feeling colder. This year seems to have gone quite quickly and we're already in October! The next sabbat will be Samhain (also Hallowe'en) and I will do a round-up post with ideas to celebrate. I'm also planning my Summer-Autumn update post. 

This time of year can be a bit difficult for me because we're moving into the darker season and I feel more down during the winter months. But autumn is a beautiful time and I do enjoy it. :) It's different than it was last year, since we're currently out of lockdown here in England and the rest of the UK. 

Hope you had a good Madron and Happy Autumn! (Or hope you had a good Oestara/Ostara and Happy Spring!)

 

If you'd like some inspiration for autumn, here are a few links:

Autumn 2020 Photos + More Inspiration (my post from last year): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/10/autumn-2020-photos-more-inspiration.html

Post about the transition from summer to autumn and ideas to celebrate: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/3pagansandacat/2021/09/transition-from-summer-to-autumn-time-to-celebrate/ 

Things to do between now and Samhain: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/witchindeed/2021/09/31-more-things-to-do-between-now-and-samhain/

  

P.S. If you're in the Southern Hemisphere, you might like this post:

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