Mabon: The Bad Witch's God of the Week

With the autumn equinox approaching, the Bad Witch's God of the Week is Mabon, the Celtic god of youth.

It might seem a bit odd for deity of youth to be associated with autumn and the waning season. Nevertheless, Mabon is the name Wiccans give to the festival to celebrate this time of year. According to some legends, the Celtic deity was born at the autumn equinox, which is why it has been called after him.

Mabon is also a god of hunting and appears in the tale of Culhwch & Olwen, helping Culhwch fulfill his quest to slay a magical boar. As well as that, Mabon is sometimes thought of as the Irish god of love.

According to www.pantheon.org/mythica.html:

"Mabon son of Modron ("young man" son of "mother goddess") was a hunter-god. He was stolen from his mother at three days, and lived in Annwn, whence he was rescued by Culhwch (and Arthur) as an adult. He was ever-young as a result of this sojourn."

That might be the straight story, but I rather like the way less-serious www.godchecker.com/ describes him:

"MABON: Welsh Love God. He may or may not be Maponos. He may have been imprisoned when only 3 days old, and it may have been in Gloucester. He may have had a pet hound called Culhwch, and he may have taken a razor from between the ears of a wild boar, although what a razor was doing there in the first place is not all clear. Is there a breed of pig called Razor Back?"

Links:

http://crystalforest3.homestead.com/Mabon.html
http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/bios/mabon.html
The Concise Mythological Dictionary
http://www.pantheon.org/mythica.html
http://www.godchecker.com/