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WINTER AND SPRING: THE TALE OF PERSEPHONE
Why do winter and spring come? How does it happen? Well, you could look at it in the boring old
scientific way or you can look at it from a more interesting mythological perspective. The reason for
winter and spring as Greek mythology tells us, goes a little something like this...
Demeter, Goddess of agriculture and daughter of Cronus and Rhea, had a daughter named
Persephone (by way of Zeus). One day she was snatched away by Hades, God of the Underworld, to
live with him in down in the Underworld. No one knew what had happened to Persephone. Her
mother, Demeter, heard her cries but knew not where she was. Distressed by this disappearance,
Demeter left all the harvest alone and as a result, mass famine struck. One day while Apollo was
making his rounds through the underworld as he does through the sky, he spotted Persephone down
there and reported the finding to Zeus. Zeus then sent Hermes, the messenger god, to bring
Persephone back. Unfortunately, Persephone ate six promegrate seeds given to her by Hades in the
land of the dead. This trickery bound her to return to the underworld for six months every year. When
Persephone returns from the underworld each year, Demeter makes the earth bloom and grow
beautifully which is the time of year we know as Spring and Summer. When Persephone returns to
the underworld, Demeter stops and Fall & Winter arrive.
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