Myth of Demeter and Persephone in terms of ritual - Essay Example

The same is applied with the Demeter and Persephone. Iliad portrays Demeter and her daughter Persephone as the lesser goddesses, where Demeter is sketched as the goddess of fertility, corn, harvest and mother earth, where she ruled over the areas including fertility, growth, wisdom, and bloom of the crops, fruits and vegetables. Similarly, Persephone served as the Maiden of Spring, though later she got the title of Queen of the underworld after her deceitful abduction at the hands of Hades, the Underworld King.

Demeter’s rituals were celebrated with great enthusiasm in sowing and harvesting seasons i.e. in spring and autumn. Eleusinian Mystery is the ritual attributed to Demeter, which is celebrated to memorize her refuge in Eleusis town in the aftermath of her unsuccessful rummage around the earth for the lost Persephone. Since Demeter maintained sheer feelings of affection for Persephone, she did not let her depart from her sight. Somehow, she was trapped by Zeus for the Hades’ sake, and thus was shifted to the underworld in the wake of the eruption of earth during her gathering the cosmic flowers.

Demeter searched for Persephone in all corners of the earth and also sought the support of gods, but no one bothered to help her at the hour of utter disgust. (Roberts, 1960) Consequently, Demeter caused famine and drought all over the earth, which destroyed all crops and cultivation met a sorrowful end. There was everything green and blossoming and people were happy and prosperous. But the anger of Demeter turned greenery into futility and barrenness and people became poignant and gloomy. Consequently, Zeus interrupted and ordered Hades to arrange meeting between Demeter and Persephone.

However, Persephone was forced to take seed from the pomegranate of the dead, which did not let her stay with her mother for long. On disclosure of the very fact, Demeter refused to turn the lands fertile and productive again. Somehow, Zeus assured that Persephone would stay with Demeter for six months, and would abide in the underworld for the remaining half year. The myth not only maintained imperative significance in its nature and scope, but also gave birth to the Greek celebrations and rituals for the future years to come.

The rituals are based on the sense of hope, cultivation, blossoming, joy and mirth on the one hand, and despair, sorrow, gloom and cruelty on the other. The six months, attributed to union of the mother and daughter give message of hope, spirituality and courage, while their separation represents long awaiting, barrenness, tyranny, deceit and darkness. Somehow, the rituals of Demeter and Persephone are celebrated with unabated passion and spiritual fervor. The most noteworthy issue regarding the celebration of her ritual was the people’s passion for obtaining spiritual elevation on the one hand, and gaining the worldly gains on the other.

Since Demeter’s temple provides spiritual and mental relief to the pilgrims, her mysterious powers of fertility and bloom bless the people with children, economic prosperity, agricultural flourish and access to the pecuniary gains as well. It is therefore, the pilgrims travelled wide to reach Eleusis particularly in autumn, where the men and slaves kept fast till darkness of night. Demeter had secretly established her temple in Eleusis during her search for Persephone, and the Greeks celebrated the mystery once a year in autumn season which