Putting Out The Hare
“Have you put the hare out yet?” — Danaher, K. The Year in Ireland: Irish Calendar Customs (1972), p. 190.
I have said before that Wicca is innately eclectic. In truth it isn’t a tradition, but a selection of traditions, plural. Now, I would go further and say how it innately is Gardener’s Frankenstein-monster. I feel bad for this monster, and probably wouldn’t go after it with a pitchfork and torch… but I wouldn’t be against or sad at letting it live out its natural end. All cults based with a charismatic leader ultimately do come to an end.
And I am hoping it is at its end.
Wicca has stolen a lot of shite from a lot of cultures out of context. It has stolen and appropriated a majourity of things from Irish folk custom more specifically because of English colonisation, settler-colonialism, and cultural imperialism. Gardener may have tried to be an antifascist, but he was still English, and privileged, and fetishisied Indigenous culture whether it was in Ceylon, Malaysia, or in Ireland. That coloniser cisheteropatriarchy really shines through when you look more closely.
For example, they stole Imbolg, Beltaine, Lúnasa, and Samhain from Syncretic Irish Paganism. And stole Yule from the Norse and Germanic peoples.
But it gets even more complicated, when in 1974 Aiden Kelly himself admits to inventing Mabon, Ostara, and Litha altogether for his “Pagan-craft Calendar”; which were then popularised by Green Egg magazine in the 1970s. Kelly evidently was inspired by Bede for Litha and Ostara, and was inspired by the Welsh story about Mabon ap Modron for, you guessed it, Mabon. See what happens when “inspiration” hits and like Caesar men try to cultural-imperialistically lump things together and say one god is this other god, this story is about this other god too, etc. etc.? Shite gets made tf up! And then you have whole generations of people thinking that these so-called “holidays” and customs are “ancient” when they are less than fifty years-old…
So if Mabon is an invention less than fifty years-old, how can we authentically connect to the Autumn Equinox; and what is this business about putting out the hare from the corn?
My answer: look to the Irish customs surrounding Lúnasa, Michaelmas, and Fomhar na nGéan, the Goose Harvest. Look to the Irish sacred sites that have astronomical alignments, and start thinking more in terms of what is harvested this time of year in Ireland and near you.
Cónocht an fhómhair, (autumn equinox in Modern Irish), some would say is all about the end of the grain harvest and preparing for Samhain because anything not gathered before is contractually the property of the Good Neighbors. Before harvest machinery, this harvesting was done not alone, but all together regardless of class and station.
Others still might say it is all about “cutting down the last sheaf”, cutting the calacht or the cailleach, and “putting out the hare”. Traditionally, there are many things that were done and this could happen any time (depending on the crops and labour)from the end of September until October. But there is considerable overlap with Lúnasa, as cutting the Cailleach could also happen in August. Some of these things were fun and others grueling, but well worth it in the cold winter months when you can have a full stomach. You can read all about these customs in Danaher’s book, The Year in Ireland (YII).
“The last bit of corn [grain not maize] in the last of the farmer’s fields was the visible symbol of the end of the harvest, and the cutting of this last bit was, all over Ireland, attended with some ceremony. Usually a small portion, enough to make one sheaf, was left standing while the rest of field was fully finished, then all the workers gathered to see it cut. It was generally said that some living creature, a small animal or bird was to be found in the last of the standing corn… such small creatures drew back before the advancing reapers until finally making a dash for safety… before the last piece was cut the workers raised a shout or made noise to “put out the hare”, and if a farm nearby still had standing corn, the are was said to go there; “we sent you the hare” was the quip thrown at the farmer whose harvest was late.” — YII, p. 190.
In some cases this was also said as “putting out the hag” or “putting out the cailleach.”(p. 191) The last sheaf was particularly lucky to get, as it was a bit of a game to see whose reaper would cut the last one. This sheaf was then carried out by the one who cut it and was worn until it was hung in the house roof-ridge, barn, or byre. The bearer was often the subject of pranking with water, splashing them as a joke, but also as sympathetic magic to prevent drought the next year.
There is more detail to the varied story with the last sheaf, but that will have to be read about in YII.
The harvest was then rewarded by the farm owner by holding a feast for the workers, a stampy party, or harvest home celebration with food and dancing and singing where many would be wearing harvest knots. These knots would be gendered, and brings us to question if there ever were more than two types (and the answer is yes). So have fun and queer this tradition to be inclusive of all marginalised genders and sexes by wearing the knots you feel most proud of.
So what about Michaelmas? Traditionally, Michaelmas is celebrated on September 29th, and according to Danaher, had no special significance under the older Irish system until the Anglo-Normans came and started colonising with their legal customs like electing mayors, bull-baiting, paying rent, letting of grazing, card-playing and heavy ale drinking, repayment of loans, hiring servants, killing St Michael’s sheep, end of the fishing season, harvesting apples and making of cidre, and the goose harvest: Fomhar na nGéan.
To expand on the end of fishing season, this would be the time of the last “going to the sea” at Tramore in Co. Waterford to support the local businesses and eat marine delicacies. They would march to the edge of the sea, throw in an effigy of Archangel Michael called “Micil” jokingly because this meant a financial loss for them as the season was now done, much like how sea harbour and lake towns now have their tourism seasons wane around this time to make way for hunting season.
In an echo to “the putting out the hare,” I will end with that hunting season would chiefly involve hare and fox hunting in all areas, but curiously hares in the bogs of Shragh were well known. So there you have it, a few beliefs and practices to do this month and next. Granted not all of us can get to the sea or get to a country harvest festival; but there are plenty of places putting on farmer’s markets and fresh apples and cidre are in season! There is always a reason to celebrate your coworkers and comrades work. So put that faith into your living practice. Make it special and memorable, however you do it. Put out your hare in your own modern way by being true to the spirit of the cultural context you’re choosing to live by.
Just PLEASE for all that is holy, DON’T call it Mabon…
