I recently became engaged in conversation around the modern use of Mabon as a name for the Autumn Equinox festival that is part of the Neo-Pagan Eightfold Wheel of the Year. Some Welsh Pagans and Brythonic polytheists have put in a lot of time and energy explaining the various ways this is problematic; most people are grateful for the clarification because they do not wish to perpetuate harm. Others are more resistant to this understanding, choosing instead to center their sense of entitlement to someone else’s culture over the wishes of the culture itself. Choosing instead to make arguments like “just because it’s not an ancient usage doesn’t mean that the meanings of words and names don’t or can’t shift over time” and “there’s no proof that Mabon was a divinity anyway — so why defend some mortal mentioned in The Mabinogion that we know very little about.”
I think it’s important that those who celebrate “Mabon” understand who he actually is, and how his name became associated with this Neo-Pagan festival — so they can understand some of the reasons why this is a point of contention. I wound up writing a fairly detailed response to a few of these issues, and would like to share them here:
1. Mabon is a theonym that literally means “Divine Son” (“mab” = son/boy, “-on” = Brythonic terminal deific); linguistics often gives us information that lore does not, particularly in cultures that practice/d oral tradition.
2. Mabon is a cognate of the well-attested Gaulish deity Maponos and – in addition to those found on the continent – there are dedicatory inscriptions to him found in the area of Hadrian’s Wall, suggesting that Roman garrisons of Gaulish extraction brought the worship of Maponos with them. Similarly, Maponos’ mother Matrona – “Divine Mother” – has a cognate divinity in the Welsh Modron .)
3. Mabon does not appear in the Four Branches which technically make up Y Mabinogi, although he is in “Culhwch ac Olwen” one of the seven native tales which appear in the same source manuscripts as the Four Branches, and often are translated and collected together with them. However, scholars believe that Pryderi – son of Rhiannon and Pywll, and the only character that appears in all Four Branches – is a reflex of Mabon, because of similarities in their stories. Further, the word “Mabinogi” is believed to mean “Tales of the Youth”… and from this, scholars posit that these tales may have been a story cycle which once centered Mabon (or his proxy, Pryderi) – stories which, for many reasons – including the long-term existence of these stories in orality – shifted over time, with new elements added in and others potentially lost. These kinds of changes are a natural consequence of oral tradition, and the evolution of language, narrative, and meaning that occurs organically over time.
4. Mabon appears in other places in Welsh lore as well, most famously in Trioedd Ynys Prydein where he is remembered in Triad 52:
Three Exalted Prisoners of the Island of Britain:
Llyr Half-Speech, who was imprisoned by Euroswydd,
and the second, Mabon son of Modron,
and third, Gwair son of Geirioedd.
(Bromwich, 2006, p. 146)
This association with imprisonment follows Mabon and appears in characters related to him in Arthurian tradition, such as Mabonagrain, Maboun, and Mabuz. This suggests that imprisonment may be a core element of his original mythos.
5. Because the tales in Welsh oral tradition (aspects of which are believed to have their origins in the pre-Christian period) were not written down until the medieval period, none of the figures believed to have once been divinities and are part of the “Welsh” Pantheon today (there was no “Wales” or “Welsh” language in the Pagan period) are identified as Gods. None. Not Rhiannon, not Bran, not Lleu, not Aranrhod, not Manawydan, not Ceridwen. None. Written lore is not the only source of information we have about these figures; linguistics, archaeology, and comparative mythology enable us to trace the evolution and/or identify the existence of divine reflexes and cognates of similar figures in adjacent cultures where there IS proof of divinity.
6. It is not hypocritical to want to clarify that using the name Mabon for a Neo-Pagan festival unrelated to the God is a form of appropriation that has obscured what we DO know about him – which is actually a lot, considering all that we don’t know about other Welsh deities because of the points I mention above. For example, most people accept that Rhiannon is a Goddess, but there are zero attested shrines to her and no evidence of her worship (at least by that name). However, there are other tools of inquiry at our disposal. Evidence supportive of Rhiannon’s divinity can be found using linguistics, the study of literary motifs, and comparative mythology. Maponos, on the other hand, is a God who for whom there is evidence in the archaeological record; shrines and altars dedicated to him can be found both in Gaul and in Britain.
8. Finally, here is how “Mabon” came to be used as the name of the Autumn Equinox in modern Neo-Pagan tradition: Author Aidan Kelly first made this association in 1974, and he writes that he chose the name because he was unaware of any Pagan names for the equinox. Noting that the Eleusinian Mysteries of Demeter and Kore began on the full moon nearest the fall equinox, and seeking a similar take from Celtic tradition, he found that the story of Mabon’s imprisonment most closely reminded him of the journey of Kore – whose name means “Maiden”, just as Mabon’s means “Boy” or “Son” – into the Underworld and back. Unfortunately, there really isn’t a case to make here as Mabon was stolen from his mother as an infant, was imprisoned in the Otherworld for an incredibly long period of time, and was eventually rescued from Caerloyw (“The Shining Fortress”, also known as Gloucester) as an adult. He was never brought back from the dead, as Kelly appears to believe, since he was never dead. Unlike the Greek Underworld, the Otherworld in Wales and other Celtic lands has never been a land of the dead. The parallels Kelly perceived in the stories of Kore and Mabon appears, therefore, to be based upon a misunderstanding of Welsh lore… a misunderstanding that underscores the issues that accompany removing a deity from their cultural context.
This conversation is ongoing. There is no question that there are those who use the name Mabon for the Autumn Equinox and have found meaningful symbolism in its association with Mabon ap Modron — and I don’t think anyone has an issue with that. However, it is important to note that there is no ancient, cultural, or mythological association between the God and the holy day. While many of the Welsh Pagans, Polytheists, and Druids I know prefer that the community use names other than Mabon for the Autumn Equinox, I have likewise observed many who say that incorporating an honoring of Mabon ap Modron into any given celebration of “Mabon” balances out many of their concerns around appropriation.