Madron 2025

Two weeks ago (Monday 22nd September) it was Madron, also known as Mabon/the Autumn Equinox. I normally bake for this sabbat as my main celebration. For the past few years I've made some form of ginger cake (although in 2022 I baked pumpkin spice bars) but this year I decided to go for something differrent, a buttermilk spice cake. The recipe is from Mix and Match Mama: https://mixandmatchmama.com/2018/09/buttermilk-spice-cake/

I thought it fit the theme because it has spices in (also any type of baked goods are suitable for Madron because it's a harvest festival). I didn't use nutmeg because I didn't have any and don't use it much, but I used some mixed spice instead. 

The cake was quite nice. I liked the cream cheese frosting too. (I like it in general but don't normally put maple syrup in it). You can bake it as a sheet cake or a layer cake and I chose to do a sheet cake. Here's a pic: 

Late Summer Photos + Happy Madron/Autumn!

Back in 2019, I wrote a post called Summer Photos + Preparing for Autumn, where I shared some pictures from the summer and also wrote about getting ready for the new season. You can see it here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/09/summer-photos-preparing-for-autumn.html

This year, I thought I'd something similar, but since Madron aka Mabon/the Autumn Equinox is tomorrow (Monday 22nd September), I'm doing a combined post with some photos from my summer and some inspiration for celebrating Madron and the autumn season. :)

 

Late Summer Photos 

First up, here are some pics from the end of summer. 

Here are some photos I took when I met up with some family members in Brighton in August:

View from Brighton Palace Pier.

Madron 2024

Last weekend (Sunday 22nd September) it was Madron, also known as Mabon and the Autumn Equinox. My main celebration for this sabbat is baking and this year I made a gingerbread traybake. The recipe is from The Baking Explorer: https://thebakingexplorer.com/gingerbread-traybake/

When I've baked gingerbread cakes or muffins in the past, I've often made a cream cheese frosting (one of my favourites is from the James Martin white chocolate Easter cake I've made several times). But this time I made the buttercream icing that goes with the recipe. It's a simple one made out of butter, icing sugar, ground ginger and vanilla extract.

The traybake itself was quite nice. Here's a picture:

Pic taken before I cut it!

 

Easing into Autumn

I normally post on Sundays or Mondays but I was behind with another post on my entertainment blog Star Sparkle Blog, so I'm posting on a Tuesday instead. :) 

Autumn is starting (or has already begun, depending on whether you go by the astronomical or meteorological start). Back in March, I wrote a post called Easing into Spring, so I thought I would do the same for autumn. :)

I've previously written a few posts about getting ready for autumn, which you can read at the links below:

Getting Ready for Autumn: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/09/getting-ready-for-autumn.html

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

Summer Photos + Preparing for Autumn: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/09/summer-photos-preparing-for-autumn.html

Saying Goodbye to Summer, Moving into Autumn: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2022/09/saying-goodbye-to-summer-moving-into.html

 

Note: If you're in the Southern Hemisphere, spring is starting! You might like my Easing into Spring post: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2024/03/easing-into-spring.html

 

This time I'm sharing  a few links with inspiration for autumn and also for the autumn festival Madron/Mabon aka the Autumn Equinox. Madron is on 22nd September this year (Sunday).

As with the spring post, I've called this one Easing into Autumn because the start of a season is a transitional time. Sometimes you might feel ready to go straight into the next season, while other times you might want to go slower. And of course the weather often varies, especially in the UK!

Madron 2023

Last weekend (Saturday 23rd September) it was Madron, also known as Mabon and the Autumn Equinox. My main celebration for this sabbat is baking and I usually make something ginger themed. This year I baked these frosted gingerbread muffins: https://simplytaralynn.com/2021/12/02/frosted-gingerbread-muffins-so-easy-to-make/

The recipe is from Simply Taralynn. I've previously made her pumpkin spice bars for Madron last year and her gingerbread cookie bars in January.

The muffins were quite nice. The recipe requires molasses but I used treacle, which I tend to use as a substitution because it's easier to get in the UK and is similar. Sometimes the treacle can be a bit strong but these were fine. I last made gingerbread muffins for Madron 2021 and those were kind of like ones I made in 2019, since both have banana in. I used applesace for those though, because I don't like banana!

These muffins don't have any banana in, so I didn't make any other substitutions apart from using mixed spice instead of allspice. They aren't the same but mixed spice seems to be more common over here, so I usually use it in ginger recipes. It already has nutmeg and cloves in it, so it's good if you don't have those individual spices (which I didn't). Mixed spice is similar to pumpkin spice though and I used it for the pumpkin spice bars I baked last year.

If you're looking for a substitute that is similar to allspice, here is a useful post: https://thekitchencommunity.org/substitute-for-allspice/

And if you want to make your own mixed spice, visit this post: https://fromthelarder.co.uk/mixed-spice/

The gingerbread muffin recipe has a frosting recipe made with powdered sugar (icing sugar), vanilla and milk but I decided to use my favourite cream cheese frosting from the James Martin white chocolate Easter cake I like to make. 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

So, although the muffins would taste a bit different to the original recipe, I still liked them. Here's a picture:  

 

Madron 2022

The week before last (Friday 23rd September) it was Madron, more commonly known as Mabon and the Autumn Equinox. (Some people will have celebrated on Thursday, depending on their time zone.) I wasn't able to get a post about it done last weekend, so I'm doing it today instead. :)

As I mentioned in the Celebrating Madron! post, my main celebration is baking and this year I made some pumpkin spice bars. The recipe is from Simply Taralynn: https://simplytaralynn.com/2022/09/05/delicious-pumpkin-spice-bars-with-maple-frosting/

It has a maple frosting because Taralynn (the blogger) isn't keen on cream cheese frosting. I considered making the maple icing, but in the end decided to go for cream cheese. I know it goes well with ginger things, so imagined it would be nice with pumpkin flavours. I used the (frosting) recipe from Taralynn's gingerbread cookie bars with cream cheese frosting: https://simplytaralynn.com/2020/12/15/gingerbread-cookie-bars-with-cream-cheese-frosting-gluten-free-and-dairy-free/

I might make the gingerbread cookie bars in future!

I don't think pumpkin spice is easily available here, so I used mixed spice instead, which is apparently similar. You can make your own pumpkin spice though, here's a recipe from Little House Living that tells you how (see the Spice Mixes section): https://www.littlehouseliving.com/7-pantry-staples-start-making.html

Update 3/10/24: The link above now redirects to a similar post and I can't find the pumpkin spice recipe. But here's one from Don't Waste the Crumbs: https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/homemade-pumpkin-pie-spice-recipe/

The recipe also requires pumpkin puree which isn't widely available in the UK either. I did buy some from Tesco before but they've stopped doing it. However, I was able to get some from Waitrose (America's Finest brand). 

The pumkin bars were nice. I wondered if the puree would make them too "gooey" but it all blended nicely. And the cream cheese frosting went well with them. Here's a picture:

 

I cut a slice out to show what the bars look like!

Celebrating Madron!

Madron aka Mabon/the Autumn Equinox is nearly here! This year it's on Friday 23rd September (or Thursday 22nd Sept depending on your time zone; see below). For the past few years, I've written posts with inspiration and celebration ideas. Last year I did a round-up of my previous Madron posts. During 2022 I've been doing posts sharing some links and ideas for the sabbats, rather than doing in-depth ones, so this year's Madron post is similar. (I previously did a post called Happy Madron! in 2016, so the title for this one is different to the other 2022 posts.)

I normally post on Sunday or Monday but didn't manage to get this finished yesterday, so I'm posting on a Tuesday. :)

Note: If you're in the Southern Hemisphere it's almost time for Oestara aka Ostara/the Spring Equinox. You may like my Oestara Round-up post: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2022/03/oestara-round-up.html

 

Madron is the 2nd harvest festival on the Wheel of the Year, coming after Lammas (around 1st August) and before Samhain (which takes place on 31st October and was the precursor for Hallowe'en). It's also the Autumn Equinox which is often thought of as the "official" start of autumn.

The Autumn Equinox is when day and night are equal (or roughly equal), the opposite to the Spring Equinox (also known as Oestara/Ostara) in March. (In the Southern Hemisphere it's reversed, so their Spring Equinox is in September and their Autumn Equinox is in March.) It also marks the astronomical start of autumn (the metrological start was on 1st September).

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: 

 

Madron Round-up + Autumn Baking

Madron (aka Mabon and the Autumn Equinox) is coming up. This year it is on Wednesday 22nd September. 

For the past few years, I've written celebration ideas and inspiration posts for Madron. For 2021 I'm doing a round-up post, like I have for the last few sabbats this year. I also thought it would be good to include an autumn baking section, so see below for that! :)

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

Happy Oestara!: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2021/03/happy-oestara.html

 

Madron (more commonly known as Mabon, but I first heard of it as Madron) is the 2nd harvest festival on the Wheel of the Year. It comes after Lammas (around 1st August) and before Samhain (on 31st October). It's also the Autumn Equinox which marks the "official" start of autumn. On this date day and night are roughly equal. This year the scientific time of the Autumn Equinox will be 3.20pm EDT/7.20pm UTC/ 8.20pm BST/UK time. You can work out your local time compared to universal here: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/universal-time/

Themes of this sabbat include balance, letting go, gratitude and of course, harvest.

 

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.

Madron 2019

Last Monday (24th September) it was Madron, aka Mabon and the Autumn Equinox. As I mentioned in the Madron Inspiration post, I normally bake for this sabbat and this year I made some one bowl gingerbread spiced muffins. Here is the recipe: https://www.forkknifeswoon.com/one-bowl-spiced-gingerbread-muffins/

"One bowl" recipes are good because it's easier just to mix everything together! A couple of years ago I made a one bowl chocolate cake which was nice.

The gingerbread muffins were quite nice. I used applesauce instead of banana because I don't like it, but it still worked quite well. Also I used mixed spice rather than cloves and nutmeg separately. The recipe has molasses but treacle is more readily available in the UK and is similar, so it's a good substitute.

The topping is either a maple vanilla glaze or frosting (see recipe) but I decided instead to make some cream cheese/peanut butter frosting. I've used the cream cheese icing from the frosted white chocolate cake I sometimes make for Easter for ginger cakes before, and it's gone well with them. I also wanted to try out a peanut butter frosting I'd come across a while ago but thought it might not go so well with  the ginger, since it's for banana cakes. In the end I made up the frosting without the peanut butter first (also followed the James Martin white chocolate cake recipe for the British measurements), put it on 7 of the muffins and then added peanut butter to the rest and put it on the remaining 5. Here's a picture:

Madron Inspiration

 

Madron (also known as Mabon and the Autumn Equinox) is almost here.  This year it's on Monday 23rd September which is tomorrow. (I started writing this post last week!).

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
 

For the previous two years I wrote Madron celebration idea posts which you can see 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


This year I've written a series of Inspiration posts for the sabbats, so now it's time for Madron's!

Madron is the second harvest festival on the Wheel of the Year (after Lammas and before Samhain) and its themes include grain, balance, thanksgiving and gratitude for what you've "harvested", and abundance. It's also the time of the Autumn Equinox, when day and night are roughly equal. This day marks the "official" start to autumn, although as I've written in my Getting Ready for Autumn post, the meteorological beginning of autumn is 1st September.

The Autumn Equinox is the opposite of the Spring Equinox. This year it will occur at 7.50am UTC, 8.50am UK time, and 3.50 US Eastern time. You can work out your local time compared to universal here: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/universal-time

Summer Photos + Preparing for Autumn

Summer Photos

Summer is coming to an end. As I've often mentioned, summer is my favourite season and I'm not keen on winter! So while the shift from winter to spring feels more hopeful and "lighter" to me, the one from summer to autumn isn't quite the same. We're now moving towards the darker half of the year. But  I do like autumn; I love the beautiful autumn colours of the trees changing during September and October, the golden days with a "mellower" light and the cosiness! I also like the events such as Hallowe'en/Samhain and Bonfire Night.

This post is a combined one with some photos from over the summer and ideas for preparing for autumn. :)

The past couple of years I posted some pictures from my summer. You can see them here:

End of Summer (+ Full Moon Esbat Biscuits): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/09/end-of-summer-full-moon-esbat-biscuits.html

Summer Photos: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/07/summer-photos.html

Late Summer: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/08/late-summer.html

 

Now here are some pics from this summer:

Worthing seafront- July.

Autumn Photos + Inspiration

Autumn is properly here! (Although we have had some warmer weather recently, and I did wear my flip flops a few days ago because I thought it might be the last time I'd get to wear them this year, lol). I'm always sad to see summer go but autumn is a beautiful time of year.

I thought I'd share some recent photos I took and also some links with ideas for celebrating autumn. (Doesn't seem that long since I shared spring pictures, but it's 6 months ago now and 3 since I posted some summer photos!).

Trees in Sompting

Madron 2018

Yesterday was Madron, also known as Mabon and the Autumn Equinox. Or Saturday depending on your time zone, as I mentioned in my Celebrating Madron and Autumn post, the actual equinox time and date in the UK was 2.54am on Sunday 23rd Sept, but in the US it was 9.54pm EST on Saturday the 22nd.

My main celebration was baking a ginger spice cake. It was based on this spiced wacky cake recipe: https://www.thecountrycook.net/spiced-wacky-cake/ 

Update 15/9/21: The Country Cook recipe is now gone but you can find a somewhat similar one here (no pumpkin spice in this one): https://thebestcakerecipes.com/spice-crazy-cake/

I'd had the recipe saved on Pinterest for a while so this was a good opportunity to use it! I didn't know what a wacky cake was, but on the site Brandie explains that they're also called Depression-era cakes because they were good to make if you didn't have many ingredients in such as eggs, butter and milk. This recipe uses white vinegar and vegetable oil.

The original recipe uses pumpkin spice. I'm not sure if that's widely available in the UK, but there might  be some places that do it. I decided to use ginger and mixed spice instead though, so I put a tablespoon of ginger and mixed spice in (rather than 1TBSP pumpkin spice). 

The frosting for the spiced wacky cake is a vanilla buttercream one from the Food Network website, but the site itself isn't available in the UK (not sure why!) so I couldn't see the recipe. Rather than make another vanilla frosting I decided to use the cream cheese icing one from the frosted white chocolate Easter cake I've made a few times (most recently this Easter). You can see that recipe here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/04/frosted-white-chocolate-easter-cake.html

I'd previously used the same icing for the ginger beer cake I baked for Madron 2016, so thought it would work. It did go well and the cake itself tastes quite nice. Nice flavour and the ginger and mixed spice aren't too overpowering. The sponge is a bit chewier than some cakes though, maybe because of the oil. Here are a couple of  pics:

The mark is just a hole in the icing!

Celebrating Madron + Autumn

Madron, also known as Mabon and the Autumn Equinox, is coming up next weekend. This year it's Sunday 23rd September. Note: This may be different depending on your time zone, the actual equinox time and date in the UK is 2.54 am on Sunday 23rd Sept, but in the US it's 9.54 pm EST on Saturday the 22nd. So celebrate at the appropriate time for you. The energy of the sabbats is thought to be active for a couple of days either side anyway. :)

Last year I did a post on ways to celebrate. You can read it here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/09/madronautumn-equinox-celebration-ideas.html

So for 2018 I thought I'd do one about celebrating both Madron and autumn in general, like my previous ones about Oestara and spring, and Litha and summer.

Note: If you're in the Southern Hemipshere it's time for Oestara/Ostara and spring. You might like this post: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/03/celebrating-oestara-spring.html


Update 20/9/18: Added a couple of extra links. :)


Madron Ideas

Madron (more commonly known as Mabon but I was first introduced to it as "Madron" in Kate West's books) and the Autumn Equinox is the time when day and night are equal. It's the opposite of the Spring Equinox. Since Litha/the Summer Solstice which was the longest day of the year, the days have been getting gradually shorter. I've only really noticed it in recent weeks, sunset is now around 7.15pm. After Madron days will continue to get shorter and nights longer, until Yule aka the Winter Solstice, just before Christmas. So Madron is a time of balance.

Getting Ready for Autumn

Last December I started a series of post about preparing for the coming seasons, the first post was Getting Ready for Winter. I followed that up with Getting Ready for Spring and Getting Ready for Summer, so now here is a post on getting ready for autumn, to complete the seasonal circle. :)

Note: If  spring is coming up where you are check out the spring post: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/03/getting-ready-for-spring.html


After what has felt like an especially long, hot summer, the weather has cooled down and autumn is coming. We seem to have had some weird weather in the UK this year, with snow storms in March and more snow than usual here in Sussex. Then in April we had hotter weather than usual for spring, and then a hot summer. I did enjoy the hotter weather, although I struggled a bit to adjust to the heat. In the past couple of weeks or so it's cooled down and now it's feeling more like autumn. The light shifts towards the end of August, mellows, and also now the shorter days (since Litha/the Summer Solstice they shorten by about a minute every 3 days and about 3 mins a day by Madron aka the Autumn Equinox) are becoming a bit more noticeable, with sunset before 8pm instead of after 9 earlier in the summer.

It has actually warmed up these past couple of days and I'm planning to go to the beach tomorrow to make the most of the weather, before summer is officially over! But I'm also concentrating on moving into autumn.

As with the other seasons, there are two "official" starts to autumn- meteorological autumn which is 1st September, and astronomical autumn which is around 22nd September when the Autumn Equinox (Madron/Mabon) is. This year Madron is 23rd Sept. For more information read this post: https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/learn-about/weather/seasons/autumn/when-does-autumn-start

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/