Persephone

Alynn, Jeju, Spring 2023

Painting by Danter Gabriel Rossetti 'Proserpina'

Every year, spring, summer, autumn, and winter arrive. Winter is infamous for being the season in which nothing grows. In Graeco-Roman belief, the division of the seasons is created by the despair of Demeter, goddess of agriculture and mother to Persephone, goddess of spring.

In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, the story begins when Persephone was walking around and gathering flowers with Oceanids. Suddenly, Hades emerged out of a cleft in the earth, riding his black chariot, to abduct Persephone. He took her to the underworld where he reigned, and Persephone silently vanished without a trace. As soon as she realised that she had lost her daughter, Demeter searched everywhere and asked everyone, including the nymphs who had been picking flowers with Persephone. However, the nymphs did not give her answers because they feared Hades.

Demeter searched for her daughter across the world with Hecate’s torch, neglecting the Earth, the crops, and the people. From kings and rulers to the homeless on the streets, people suffered a famine as the Earth was dry and crops did not grow. Eventually, Helios, the god of the sun, who had witnessed everything from Hades’ abduction of Persephone to the famine, told Demeter what had happened to her daughter.

Since Zeus was under pressure from both mortals and Demeter herself, he instructed Hades to return Persephone to her mother. Hades seemed to cooperate with his brother’s request, but he had no desire to return Persephone. He gave her a pomegranate, and because she ate the fruit of the underworld, Persephone was now unable to fully return to the world above. Yet, as she only had a fraction of it, the gods agreed that Persephone would stay with Hades for only three months of the year. Since Demeter would not take care of the Earth when her daughter was taken from her, these three months became winter.

Thus, winter became a season where Demeter did nothing but mourn for her daughter, so it often symbolises negative emotions such as hopelessness and dejection. However, because the myth ends with Demeter being reunited with her daughter, the season of winter, as expressed in the story, leaves room for interpretation. Winter is the season when all living things do not grow, but it is because they are preparing for growth. Like the trees that make flower buds, various living things that appear to do nothing, are in fact getting ready for spring. In this way, winter could be reborn as a season of preparation, instead of a season of despair.