• And so the story goes…

    In the fields of Nysa, beautiful Persephone, daughter of Demeter and Zeus, was cheerfully picking flowers with some nymphs by her side. From her rose lips uttered a beautiful song which would enchant all who heard. She was placed there to take care of all the small, insignificant, living things mankind usually overlooked by her mother, queen of Earth, goddess of harvest. When suddenly, from a fissure in the ground, Hades, god of the underworld, grabbed Persephone and abducted her, pulling her deep , pass the river of Styx, boundary between Earth and the underworld, and Cerberus , guardian of the gates to his domains.
    When Demeter found her daughter missing, in rage and despair, she casted a spell upon the land which made it dark and fruitless and would not lift it until she once saw and heard her of her daughter once again. Helios, god of the sun, who saw it all, revealed what had happened to Persephone and so Demeter fell into despair as the mother who had lost her child.
    Saddened and bewildered, Demeter began to search for her daughter vainly around Nysa, hoping it was all just a mistake, not daring to cross the river of Styx where she knew her daughter was. The depth of her despair was such that it caused nothing to grow or flourish as it should. Meanwhile, Hades tried to seduce Persephone but she would just not give in, saying that she wouldn’t until she saw her mother again but all she was planning was running off as soon as she could.
    Finally, as he watched Demeter destroy herself and the Earth, Zeus, king of the gods, forced Hades to return Persephone, pressed also, by the cries of the hungry people and other anguished deities. He sent Hermes, messenger of the gods, to retrieve her but, it was a rule of the Moirae, the three gods of destiny and fate, to who even Zeus was a subject to their power, that he who dared consume food in the Underworld would be punished to spend an eternity there. And with this to his advantage, Hades tricked Persephone into eating some pomegranate seeds before leaving and thus she became queen of the underworld.
    As soon as Persephone set foot, the Earth became green and vivid again as Demeter raced to meet her daughter once again. Seeing that she had eaten food before arriving, with great sadness, Demeter had to surrender her daughter to the likes of Hades. But Zeus decided to take matters on to his own hands with compromise. Persephone were to spend one third of the year with her husband and the rest of which in the light and air. And thus, when Persephone left to the Underworld to fulfill her role as the Iron Queen, it became winter on Earth until she returned.
    It is strongly believed by ancient Greeks that marriage, in its own way, consisted on abducting the bride from her family and they believe that this story is proof of such believe.