August 15: St. Mary's Day

For the ancient Greeks, the archetype of motherhood was the goddess of harvest, Demeter. When her daughter Persephone went missing, she lost all interest in her tasks. The coldness in her heart was reflected on earth. Nothing grew, nothing blossomed, no harvest was produced. A season of darkness, rain and frost broke, and humans shivered with Demeter in anguish and despair. Even more, when the goddess learned that Hades, ruler of the underworld, had abducted her child. And he had tricked her into eating six pomegranate seeds, which would force Persephone to stay beneath the earth for half a year, a month for each seed that she had eaten. (There was this ancient rule that no food should be shared in the underworld.) Each spring, Demeter would anxiously await the reunion with her daughter, and the hope in her heart coloured flowers and fruit. But when summer reached its end and desperation grew, trees would wither and fields lay barren. And once again, a cold season would set in.

The Mourning of Demeter, Evelyn de Morgan

Demeter/Ceres begging for Zeus'/Jupiter's Thunderbolts,

Antoine-François Callet, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA

Did you know?

• About Demeter/Ceres:  “The Horn of Plenty”, “Pride and Prejudice”, “The Curse of the Kabeiroi”, “Keeper of the Keys”, “Baby Blues”, “Thanksgiving”, “Santa Pelops”, “A Crowded Mountain”, “Love at 7th Sight”, “Arm Candy”, “Comfort Food”, “Hungry Eyes”, “The Sirens’ Song”, “The Lynx Myth”.

• About Persephone/Proserpina: cfr. “Queen of Souls”.