Teaching Mythology Episode 013 Why we have seasons according to Greek Mythology Transcript

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[00:00:00] Welcome back to another episode of teaching mythology. And we’re back today on a special day it’s September 22nd, 2021. And it is the fall Equinox or the Autumnal Equinox. And this is a special day in Greek mythology. Today is known as the day. That Persephone has gone back down into the underworld to join her husband. Hades.
[00:00:41] So today we’re going to retell the story of Persephone and Demeter and explain why we have seasons according to the Greek myths.
[00:00:51]
[00:00:52] So there are actually two myths surrounding Persephone about why we have seasons. But they’re both anchored in the same story. So first, let me introduce our characters. You could say. So first we have Demeter who was the goddess of the harvest fertility and the earth. She is a sister to Zeus.
[00:01:14] And.
[00:01:15] And Persephone is the daughter of Demeter and Zeus, and she is the goddess of vegetation and she was incredibly beautiful. One day she was on the earth. I don’t know. Walking through fields. I kind of picture her a little bit like snow white, maybe, or Aurora from sleeping beauty. She’s just like, oh, like,
[00:01:41] Just so beautiful. Hades spies her from a crack in the earth. And he falls immediately in love with her. Now this happens all the time in the myths where God falls in love with somebody else and they have to have them. Like right away, they have to have them. They are theirs. So he sees Persephone. He immediately falls in love with her.
[00:02:05] And he kidnaps her. And he takes her down into the underworld. Now. Maybe I’m a little bit of a hopeless romantic, but I like to think that maybe it’s not a kidnapping. Maybe she fell in love with him too. And I’ll talk about why here in a minute. But the story goes is that he kidnapped Persephone.
[00:02:26] Now while she was down in the underworld, he tricked her into eating pomegranate seeds. The rule is if you eat any food from the underworld, you cannot leave the underworld. You were there forever. So in some versions of the myth, she eats three pomegranate seeds. In some versions, she eats six.
[00:02:50] And we’ll talk about the significance of that number here in a second.
[00:02:54] Well, This is where the myth kind of diverges into two different stories about why we have seasons. So in one version, Demeter is so upset. By the fact that. has been taken from her and that she will never see her again, because she can’t go down into the underworld and stay there. Right.
[00:03:17] That Demeter mourns the loss of so much. That because she is the goddess of the earth. All. The plants on the earth start to die. And this goes on for quite a long time where everything on the earth dies because of Persephone being gone and Demeter mourning her. And eventually. Zeus. Can’t take it any longer.
[00:03:46] And he makes a deal with Hades that because Persephone ate some pomegranate seeds. That she will spend part of the year down in the underworld with Hades and part of the year on earth with her mother Demeter so that life can live again. And because of that cycle, every time Persephone goes down into the underworld.
[00:04:09] To be with her husband. Demeter goes into mourning and the earth dies. And this is fall and winter. And then when Persephone comes back onto the earth, Demeter is happy again. And we have spring and summer.
[00:04:25] who is the goddess of vegetation? Literally leaving the earth. So when she goes down into the underworld. All the plants start to die. And again, the same deal is made. Right. That.
[00:04:39] So the other side of the coin of this story is that. It isn’t. Demeter morning Persephone that causes the seasons. It’s Persephone will only spend part of the year down in the underworld. And so when Persephone leaves the earth. To go down into the underworld. That’s the beginning of fall, all the plants start to die because she is the goddess of vegetation. And then when she comes back in the spring, all the plants start to live again.
[00:05:11] And so there’s this cycle.
[00:05:13] In some versions of the myth, because she ate three pomegranate seeds. That is the three months of winter. And in other, she eats six pomegranate seeds. And so it’s six months of the year and it starts with the fall Equinox, which is today. And goes for six months through fall and winter.
[00:05:34] And then at the spring Equinox.
[00:05:36] comes back. To earth. And everything starts to live again.
[00:05:42] I think. It’s actually a really beautiful myth. It’s a myth about rebirth, death and rebirth and life. It’s also a myth about love. And various types of love. So. Let’s talk first about it being. Death and rebirth and life-giving. So. Persephone literally goes down into the underworld. Where, all of those who die.
[00:06:14] Go down into the underworld. But she gets to come back every year. There’s this rebirth that happens. And I don’t know about you, but when I think of spring, I think of like buds on trees and flowers popping out of the ground. But I also think of. Animals. And I don’t know, maybe it’s from my childhood.
[00:06:37] But I think of lambs and little ducks and. All these sort of babies being born in the spring time. And I’m a winter baby. I’m a March baby, but sometimes that can be spring, like as well. But Persephone really is this cycling of death and life. So as people die as our grandparents and our great grandparents die, they’re also future generations and there’s new children and babies and new life. And this. Cycle. Of living that happens. And I think it’s really beautiful. Does she kind of. Symbolizes that and embodies all of that herself.
[00:07:29] There’s also this great image of as she comes back to earth, she comes bursting out of the ground, right? Because they believed that the underworld really was underneath the earth. Does she comes bursting out of the crack in the earth. And outcomes new life. And this really is a direct image of what it’s like for plants bursting out of like frozen soil, winter soil.
[00:07:58] If you plant irises or tulips. Or Crocus plants. Did I say that? Right? Crocus plants. They do this. They don’t get watered or anything and they come. Breaking through hard winter soil. And they are bright, beautiful plants. It’s incredible. And where I live, we have winter and we have snow. And so sometimes in the spring you will end up with these beautiful tulips.
[00:08:31] And snow on the ground because we still end up with spring snow sometime in April. And I don’t know that like juxtaposition is, is beautiful. So I love that part. Then we have. The myth of Persephoneand Demeter is really about love. And about the love of a mother. Four. There. They’re children right. Specifically.
[00:09:00] Demeter and Persephone, Annie.
[00:09:02] I mean, Demeter is so upset about the loss of that she literally goes into mourning. And the earth dies. Because of that. Now. I’m not a mother. So I really can’t. Even understand this. To have that kind of love. Is incredible and that kind of devotion. And we hear stories all the time of parents sacrificing for their children.
[00:09:36] And these kind of incredible feats that happened with mothers were. I’ve heard it described as like a mother’s strength. Where, I mean, like lifting cars and those sorts of things to save their children. Right. It’s pretty incredible. So there’s this beautiful story of love in why we have seasons. And this love of a mother for there for her daughter.
[00:10:01] And then there’s the little romantic side of me. That loves the story. Of Hades and Persephone, Annie.
[00:10:10] Now I know that it said that he kidnaps Persephone.
[00:10:15] But Persephone stays in the underworld for quite a long time initially before Zeus brokers, this deal. And according to the myths, she doesn’t try to leave the underworld. She doesn’t try to escape. Hades she’s living there. She knows exactly what’s happening on earth and she chooses to stay with Hades.
[00:10:37] Now. She’s a goddess. So. I’m pretty sure she can come and go as she pleases. But. The second part of the myth is that she’s somehow tricked into eating these pomegranate seeds. And I’m sorry, but. She’s not an idiot. Persephone knows that if you eat any food of the underworld, then you have to stay in the underworld.
[00:11:04] I can’t imagine that she’s so hungry that she’s like, I’ll just eat six little seeds. No. This was a choice.
[00:11:12] made the choice. To eat the pomegranate seeds.
[00:11:18] Knowing that it would make it so that she would have to stay in the underworld. Now, when we think about this as a story of love. She can see that like, Her being down the underworld is probably hurting her parents, especially her mother. And.
[00:11:37] When she makes this choice to eat the pomegranate seeds. It’s a, it’s kind of like a scapegoat for her. It’s a way out, right. And when we think of and Hades, they are not like the other gods and goddesses. They remained faithful to each other.
[00:11:55] I mean, Zeus has, I don’t know, like 87 different lovers Poseidon who even knows Poseidon had children with like every water nymph. That he possibly could. We have stories of Apollo chasing. Anything that crosses his path. I mean. The gods are not faithful. The gods are not chaste. But Hades. Hades is only ever.
[00:12:25] Is withPersephone.
[00:12:27] They. Have children. But they only have children with each other. And that is a rare thing in Greek mythology.
[00:12:36] Incredibly rare.
[00:12:37] I think that fact alone is a symbol of their enduring love for each other. Because, like I said before, anytime a God falls in love with a human or another goddess, they have them, it’s kind of a foregone conclusion. They will have sex with each other. They will have children. Done. It’s they are. Connected.
[00:13:02] For the ancient Greeks, they are not two different things. Love sex and children all come together. There is no choice. If you love, you will have children. So. For Hades and Persephone bunny to continue to love each other. And have children with only each other. I feel like the myths of seasons is really about love.
[00:13:27] It’s about life. It’s about rebirth. It is.
[00:13:32] A season for sadness or a season for death, but there’s also a season. For life and growth and sunshine. And all good things. So. I hope the next time. You hear about Persephone and Hades that you’ll think of that part of them is those good things and really question whether or not Hades kidnappedPersephone.
[00:13:59] If I were writing a book. If I were writing a romance novel about Hades and Persephone, Annie. It would be this epic love story of him appearing to her. As she’s like in a field day after day after day, and then having a courtship. And one day he says, I don’t want to leave you. I don’t want to go back into the underworld without you.
[00:14:25] And she goes with him. And. Just as much as she loves Hades she also loves her mother. So they concoct this plan and they say, okay,
[00:14:35] Hades says I will sacrifice six months of my year with you. So you can be with your mother. As long as you promise to come back to me. Every year. And she does. And they concoct this plan that she will eat these pomegranate seeds so that there’s no excuse. Like nobody can stop her. From coming back down to Hades.
[00:15:00] I feel bad for Hades. I really do. I think he got a bad rap.
[00:15:05] And Persephone is. His. His good thing, right? She’s the love of his life. And I like to think that they’re still together. They’re still faithful to each other. And.
[00:15:20] That today. On the falling Equinox Persephone is making her way back down into the underworld. And while for us on earth, it’s winter, it’s cold. It’s dark plants. Start to die. It is.
[00:15:38] Just the most glorious time of year. And if you think about winter, I mean, her best holidays are in winter. I am not a fan of Halloween. People love Halloween, but I love Thanksgiving. That like feast holiday that happens in a lot of religions in the winter. And harvest and you know, just a celebration of life.
[00:16:03] Then we have. The Christmas season and giving gifts and caring and service, we have new years. And we have Valentine’s day, the celebration of love. And then we’re back into spring. And if you’re Christian in the spring, you have Easter and the resurrection. Which is ultimately a symbol of life overcoming death.
[00:16:28] And Persephone is that symbol of life overcoming deaths year after year after year. I personally loved winter. I think it’s the best season of the year, but I know not everybody. Thinks that way. But I’m happy for Persephone. I think this is a great myth. And I love the myths that try to explain things in nature.
[00:16:52] And I love this personification of nature that happens. I think it’s, it’s beautiful. It’s. I don’t know. I just love this myth. I hope you love it too. And I hope you have a great fall Equinox.
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