Mabon: Song of the Autumn Equinox (Leanne Daharja Veitch)

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  • (Posted 2010-04-16)  CPDL #21459:     
Editor: Leanne Daharja Veitch (submitted 2010-04-16).   Score information: A4, 2 pages, 37 kB   Copyright: Personal
Edition notes: This is the first release of Mabon as an individual, separate work. It has previously been published as part of "The Wheel Of The Year: A Pagan Song Cycle", in 2004.

General Information

Title: Mabon: Song of the Autumn Equinox
Composer: Leanne Daharja Veitch

Number of voices: 4vv   Voicing: SATB, + Solo Soprano
Genre: SacredPagan music

Language: English
Instruments: Mixed ensemble

First published: 2004
Description: Mabon was originally published as part of The Wheel Of The Year: A Pagan Song Cycle. In response to requests, the composer has released this movement as an individual work. It has now been renamed "Mabon: Song of the Autumn Equinox". The piece is set for flute and 'cello. Both can be adequately replaced with a small keyboard.

(Click here for "What is Mabon?)

What is Mabon?

Mabon falls at the Autumnal Equinox, when nights and days are of equal length, but light bends increasing towards darkness, and winter is on its way. It is a time of balance, and a time of looking forward to and preparation for the winter.

In the Southern hemisphere, Mabon falls on the 21st and 22nd of March, and in the Northern hemisphere it falls on the 21st and 22nd of September. It is associated with the festivals of Winter Finding (Teutonic) and Alban Elfed (Scottish).

At this time food is prepared for storage, jams and pickles are made and checked, and fruits are candied and preserved. The colors of the season are brown and gold.

In many countries, Mabon falls close to the end of Daylight Savings time, and the change in the time that evening falls makes us very aware that winter is on its way, and that summer is well and truly over.

Mabon is the second harvest, gathering in the seeds of the last flowers and plants, in preparation for the next year's planting. Mabon is a time of gathering, of preparation. It is also a time to walk quietly and observantly among the trees, smelling the resins and oils in the air, and gathering oils, barks, plants and herbs to be dried for culinary, medicinal and other purposes.

Mabon is a time to acknowledge the joys of living, as well as the suffering that is a part of life. It is a time for meditation and repose, and for spending time with close family and friends in silent appreciation of the relationships we share and that strengthen us.

External websites:

Original text and translations

English.png English text

Wind, fire, sea, stone
Breath, flame, wave, bone

Long light has lingered here, Earth still is warm,
Deepening shadows lost by the dawn.
Long darkness rising here, though heat lingers on,
Twist of the Equinox - Mabon has come.

Dead leaves fall silently, drift on the air,
Trees standing, slumbering - dry, cracked and bare.
Time passes quietly, echoing past:
Earth calls the winter in. Mabon at last!

Shadows through the mist I see:
Time passing silently.
Starlight, as the Spiral bends.
Moonlight, as the daylight ends.