Mabon for Kids

I'm charged with organizing a Pagan Kids ritual for Mabon (fall equinox) and I thought I'd post the tidbits I find.

In Ireland, the Fall Equinox is the time of the goose harvest, and there is a very old custom of giving gifts of newly-butchered goose and mutton to the poor. This tradition translates readily into a modern one of observing the season by contributing to food pantries or to organizations which serve the homeless.

SUGGESTED HARVEST MENU:
Vegetables in season
Roast goose or mutton
Cider, beer or ale
Fall fruits, especially apples and pomegranates
Grains harvested in the fall

Apple Seed Fortune Telling
Give each person in the group an apple.
Cut the apples and carefully remove the seeds.
Count the seeds.
Use the following list to tell your fortune:
1=A surprise in the near future
2=Good luck
3=Bad luck
4=Wealth
5=An early marriage
6=Fame
7=Travel
If you get more than 7 seeds you should think about going into the apple business!


Picking Apples Activity Poem
Here's a little apple tree.
Hold up arms as branches
I look up and I can see,
Shade eyes and pretend to search
Big red apples, ripe and sweet,
Cup hands as though holding a very large apple.
Big red apples, good to eat.
Rub tummy--yum, yum!
Shake the little apple tree.
Put arms up for branches and sway back and forth.
See the apples fall on me.
Bring hands down as though they were falling.
Heres a basket, big and round.
Form circle with arms in front of body.
Pick the apples from the ground.
Bend and pretend to pick up apples.
Here's an apple I can see,
Hold out hand as though holding apple
Waiting there just for me
Point to chest.
It's ripe and sweet.
That's the apple I will eat.
Rub tummy--yum, yum!