By Jovan Stipić

Ah!

Spring!

I remember centuries ago, in kindergarten, there was a huge battle between Team Winter and Team Summer! While they were duking it out, I was just sitting casually, eating oranges on the side, and enjoying the best time of the year!

In today's blog, we'll examine what Spring meant to people at certain periods in history through their depictions of Spring deities, mainly Persephone, the Greek goddess of Spring and the wife of one of the oldest bad boys in mythology, Hades! Speaking of bad boys, we've already discussed one mythological bad boy, which you can find here!

Over the centuries, mythology has remained one of the best ways of understanding long-lost cultures, their worldviews, and their beliefs. I find it endlessly fascinating that cultures, which are not only separated by geography but also by time, so often end up having the same types of beliefs and deities. Thus, many religions and mythologies throughout history had deities closely tied to the time of Spring!

In Greek mythology, that deity would be the lovely Persephone. She has remained a complex figure as the daughter of Zeus, the King of the Gods, and Demeter, the goddess of Harvest. Her marriage to the god of the underworld, Hades, is directly tied to the changing of the seasons.

Before we begin, though, it is important to note that the myth of her becoming connected to spring, which is the only one I'll be covering today, is from the tail end of the 6th Century BC, from the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. There are various earlier depictions of Persephone in Greek mythology, which will be looked at in the future but not in this article.

Sorry, I digress. Didn't want the Persephone fan club going after me for not mentioning her previous incarnations.

Where were we? Ah yes!

After Hades had kidnapped her, her mother, Demeter, refused to let the plants grow, and an everlasting winter swallowed the world, killing thousands. Finally, Hades and Demeter found a middle ground where Persephone, who by this time fell in love with Hades, would remain for a time with him before going back to her mother. Though unwilling at first, she comes into her own as the queen of the underworld, death, and spring.

With her eternal duality, one of living in both the underworld for a brief period with her husband, which we know as autumn and winter because Demeter refuses to grow crops, and her inevitable, cyclical return topside is celebrated as spring and summer! When crops and nature bloom to celebrate her return.

Persephone and Hades and their marriage are completely different topics, of course, with variations and interpretations of the myth as varied as the people reading them. The only facts that we have are that Hades did abduct Persephone, that Demeter almost destroyed the world, and that there was a compromise so that she didn't go through with that whole world destruction spiel.

But did they actually love one another? That is the question we romantics want to know! Well, we need a clear answer. As I said, there are many variations of the myth. Especially so when it comes to a myth within which words used back then, might mean something different than it does today.

The mere act of kidnapping can be rather ambiguous at times in history. If a couple elopes, it would still be considered kidnapping if the parents were not accepting of their marriage. Similarly, if they lay together, it would be considered rape (pardon my French) as well, even though both were willing participants.

So, what exactly does the myth mean when it mentions those words? We do not really know, especially when Demeter was so fiercely against their marriage. To note, Demeter was against her dear Persephone marrying anyone, not just Hades. What lovely parents she had: Zeus, who would have given her over to anyone, and her mother, who didn't want her to be with anyone.

Ah, love!

Anyhow, in my humblest of opinions, and the one I gravitate the most to is that they did, in fact, love one another. Not only because it would be one of the very few Greek myths without someone getting raped, killed, or cheated on but because it would also be one of the few myths where that love and respect are shared equally between partners. Persephone rules the underworld as a queen with just as much influence, authority and power as Hades, who even supported her going back to the surface even though she was sad to leave him.

However, it's also important that we differentiate between what is subjective and what is objective when dealing with myths. While I would rather prefer this version of the myth to be true, there are just as many versions that are quite a bit darker than the one I am leaning toward. And, while it comes down to interpretation, one cannot call it fact, especially when so much of the terminology used back then is so different from what it is now.

Still, no matter what the truth, their tale is far less horrific than most from Greek Mythology. With all variations ending with them ruling the underworld together and remaining faithful to one another. None of the versions of her myths that I've read treat her as anything but an equal to Hades, which would not suggest a passive victim trapped in an unwilling marriage.

Rather, it shows two people, or, well, gods, who are absolutely equal in love, ruling, and authority. This is never found in Greek mythology and is seldom seen in many other religions. More importantly, it's becoming as mythical as the Greek myths today, which is funny considering how forced and important it is today for everyone to be equal. I guess myths are more plausible than that.

Speaking of myths, let's go back to those before someone has a stroke.

Funnily enough, though Persephone is considered the goddess of spring, it's not actually her who's blessing us with the lovely weather and the greenery; it's Demeter, her mother. Actually, Persephone never directly influences the weather, nor does she grow the crops, calm the seasons, or make the sunshine. It's all Demeter's doing. Thus, it's better to call her the personification of Spring rather than a goddess of the season.

If we look at historical texts (oh, we won't actually come back, dry those tears and high school trauma), Persephone is only mentioned as the goddess of the Underworld, along with Hades. In the Theogony, which was written and composed at the tail end of the 8th Century BC, Persephone is called the "Dread" Persephone, with even the Iliad giving her the same title. Even Odysseus, when going through the underworld, is tormented by the ghosts of the dead and thinks it is Persephone and not Hades who is responsible. He even sacrifices a ram to her so that the ghosts drink its blood and leave him alone.

Huh. Talk about a bad girl hiding in a willy flower. Or a willy flower hiding a bad girl? Ah, who cares? It's spring. Anything is possible. Enjoy it as much as Demeter does having her daughter back! However, between you and me, I like Hades a lot better.