Goddess Demeter : Reason of Seasons

Wazzup Pilipinas!

“Ceres” is the Latin name for Demeter. Demeter is the goddess of corn, grain, and the harvest. She is the daughter of Cronus and Rhea. It is Demeter that makes the crops grow each year. The first loaf of bread from the harvest is scarificed to her. Demeter is the goddess of the earth, of agriculture, and of fertility in general. Sacred to her are livestock and agricultural products, poppy, narcissus and the crane.

Demeter is intimately associated with the seasons. She is pictured as a mature motherly figure. Her daughter Persephone was abducted by Hades to be his wife in the underworld. In her anger at her daughter's loss Demeter laid a curse on the world that caused plants to wither and die, the land became desolate. Zeus became alarmed and sought Persephone's return.

However, Hades had a claim on her. After Persephone was found, two compromises were made. (1) Persephone would spend half the year with her husband, Hades, and half the year with her mother, Demeter. (2) As long as Demeter lived with her daughter the crops thrived, but whenever she went to the Underworld, winter came again. Therefore, they agreed that Persephone would spend four months each year in the underworld. During these months Demeter grieves her daughter’s absence, and withdraws her gifts from the world, she refused to do her job, so nothing grew. This was winter. Her return brought the spring.

We can say that Demeter greatly shows and reflects what she really feels, and somehow that’s what our similarity. I prefer being vocal with what I feel rather than pretending to be something while in reality, I don’t mean what I've said or done. Pretending is just fooling yourself. Why can’t you just let other see the real you? Through that, you can recognize those people who can accept everything about you.

Demeter, in her story,  presents the great love of a mother to her child. It was shown when Demeter was not comforted with the information that her daughter was taken by the underworld God. And whenever her daughter will be living with Hades, Demeter will grieve and it can be greatly seen in her action as a Goddess of agriculture. To affix with my personality, I greatly shows my love for my mother. Whenever she’s not around, I sometimes think that something wrong is happening to her. And that thinking gives me the fearful feeling for my mother just like what Demeter feels when Persephone is not around with her.