“He rau ringa e oti ai” – (By) A thousand hands, it (the work/mahi) is completed.

Maōri whakataukī

Mabon is the 2nd of the harvest festivals that are celebrated and occurs at the time of the Autumn Equinox.

In 2021, I held a movie night, during which we watched Coraline, Treasure Planet and Flushed Away (all excellent animated films). As for this year, I celebrated with my partner and two close friends and we shared food with a dinner party at my flat.

This year the official time of the equinox was 10am on the 16th of April.

We ate pumpkin soup with crusty bread and other treats. We drank a mixture of warming beverages including wine, cider and whiskey. We mulled over the receding warmth and the upcoming winter days and nights.

Not long after was Easter (the day after, in fact, was Easter Sunday), so the celebrations didn’t stop there. With a flip in seasonal thinking we mentally travelled to the northern hemisphere to celebrate in the spirit of the Spring Equinox (Ostara), the festival that aligns time-wise with Easter, and from which, comes the ideas of rabbits, eggs and new life.

That evening we attended a party celebrating the revolutionary aspects of Jesus’ teachings, table-flipping and inclusiveness to name a couple. We watched Jesus Christ Superstar, and got really into the spirit of radical revolution. We also enjoyed the company of friends and had wine and bread in joyful consumption.

Later in the evening we ventured elsewhere to celebrate this special time in a more solemn manner, by attending our favorite Celtic-Christian congregation for the season. Following the immemorial customs, we drank wine (mixed with water) and the wafer bread of communion too, cementing the theme of together-ness that resonates through all these seasonal festivals.

“He aha te mea nui o te ao? He Tangata, he tangata, he tangata”

Maōri whakataukī

What are the most important aspects of celebrating the passing of time for you?

Thanks for reading.