The Demeters

Hades emerges from the darkness to turn Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, into the queen of the dead. Her mother looks for her everywhere but does not arrive in time to prevent the wedding. Furious, she retreats to Eleusis, where she curses the crops; she breaks the ploughs of the farmers, the fields cease to bear fruit, the days grow shorter, the sun warms less the frozen hearts of men. A terrible famine is spreading through all mortal species and will not end until its unbearable absence ceases. Zeus then imposes a pact: the girl will spend two thirds of the year with her mother and the rest with her husband. Thus, when Persephone returns to her mother’s arms, the world of the living recovers its joy and the soil flourishes. And when he retreats into the shadows, winter returns and the planet withers in sorrow.