Autumn

The scientific understanding of our seasons is well documented and accepted by the world, but ancient Greek myth offers an alternative to autumn’s arrival. It involves Persephone and Hades, the king of the Underworld.

The story begins with Persephone, daughter of Demeter the Goddess of fertility and harvests, who one day picked a narcissus flower and was swallowed whole by the ground beneath her, captured by Hades.

Persephone was wed to Hades while her mother searched far and wide for her. Despite longing for her mother, Hades gave his bride six pomegranate seeds, in Greek myth those who accept food from a captor are bound to them.

Eventually, Demeter discovered the truth of her daughter’s location and demanded her return. Since Persephone was now bound to Hades she could not leave, so a compromise was made.

For part of the year, autumn, Persephone returns to Demeter. They tend to the land together providing plentiful harvests. For the rest of the year Persephone is reunited with her husband in the Underworld where she reigns as queen, at this time her mother mourns and neglects the land. Hence our autumn season…

It’s a little more exciting than the Earth’s orbiting patterns!