Demeter goddess
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The Story of Demeter and Persephone
Watch the video below of story of Demeter and Persephone or read along.
- Who do you think the hero of the story is?
- Who is the villian?
Ancient Greek people loved to tell the stories of their gods from memory.
- Can you try and tell someone else the story of Demeter and Persephone now you have heard it?
- Or maybe you could tell someone a myth that you've made up!
The story
Demeter was the Ancient Greek goddess of the harvest. She was a very important goddess to Ancient Greek people, who farmed a lot of their food. Demeter had a kind and beautiful daughter, called Persephone, who she loved very much.
Persephone, like her mum, loved nature. One day she was walking in a beautiful meadow and gathering flowers to take home when a huge hole opened up in the ground. Hades – the God of the Underworld – arrived through the hole and captured Persephone. He wanted the lovely Persephone to be his wife. How do you think Persephone felt?
Demeter could no longer see her daughter and missed her hugely. She was so sad, it affected the harvest across Gr
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Demeter
Roman name: Ceres
Epithets: Chthonian (shared with daughter Persephone; refers to their status as goddesses associated with the earth, χθών [chthōn] being a Greek word for earth or land)
Symbols: wheat, grain
Functions: goddess of agriculture and grain
Demeter and Persephone
Demeter was a daughter of Cronus and Rhea, and was swallowed by her father (along with the rest of Cronus and Rhea’s children) shortly after her birth [See Origins]. After Zeus rescued his older siblings from their father, Demeter had an affair with her brother Zeus, which resulted in a daughter, Persephone. Hades fell deeply in love with Persephone, and the following story about them is told in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. Zeus gave his consent for Hades to marry his daughter, but because he believed that Demeter would not approve of the match, he told Hades to abduct Persephone and take her to his realm in the Underworld. With the aid of Gaia (Mother Earth, who is also known as Ge), Hades did just that.
Persephone was out gathering flowers with other young nymphs and goddesses, a
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History
The first Demeter chapter was formed in Germany following Dr. Rudolf Steiner's "Agricultural Course". In 1924, Steiner (noted scientist, philosopher, and founder of the Waldorf School) held a series of eight lectures for a group of European farmers, who had approached him because they were observing a rapid decline in seed fertility, crop vitality and animal health on their farms.
It’s helpful to think about this in the context of the times. Prior to the advent of industrialization, our communities were agrarian. People lived on their farms. They had lots of different farm animals. They grew food for themselves, and for their animals. They lived and farmed in tune with the seasons and the celestial rhythms. The farms themselves were each unique.
But by the late 19th century, Industrialization had swept the western world and transformed communities from agrarian to industrial economies. People moved from their farms to the cities. Factories were built- that emphasized increased production based on the utilization of increased resources. Bring more
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