September, Equinox, Persephone… It’s all Greek to me

With September comes Autumn. For centuries, the Fall Equinox has been celebrated throughout time across various cultures. In the northern hemisphere, the change of season brings the harvest, with origins depicted in Ancient Greek mythology with Persephone’s return to the Underworld.

The story goes like this…

Persephone (Kore or Cora), the goddess daughter of Demeter (the goddess mother of harvests), was abducted to wed King Hades, the god of the Underworld.  After great struggle, the mother goddess finally secured her daughter’s return, but only for nine months of the year. Each Fall, Persephone was summoned back to the underworld with her King husband for three months.  During this period, Mother Demeter mourned her daughter’s departure and refused to nurture plants, hence allowing winter to prevail. Persephone was the goddess of vegetation, and the goddess Queen of the underworld. As the deity of the underworld, she received the souls of the dead into the earth, and acquired powers over the fertility of the soil. In the Spring, once reunited with her mother the Earth would flourish with vegetation, color and warmth…

Fun Facts about the Greek language:

• Greek has the longest documented history of any living Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records.
• Greek is a language distinguished by an extensive vocabulary. It is the language in which many of the original texts in science, astronomy, mathematics, logic, and Western philosophy are composed.
• Modern Greek is spoken by over 13 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania and Turkey, and is one of the 24 official languages of the EU. 

Happy Autumn Equinox

Happy Harvest!

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