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Get Back Home, Persephone
Finally, someone to blame for winter!
By Susan Seibel It's the first day of winter. All I can say is, “Persephone, could you please get yourself back home to your momma?” Sure, meteorologists can tell you that the Earth has seasons because of the tilt of its axis while it orbits the sun, but that’s so impersonal. Give me someone I can talk to about this miserable state of affairs, because surely there must be someone in charge of this. And so thought the Ancient Greeks. One of the most well-known myths that has survived nearly 3,000 years is that of Persephone and her mother, Demeter—a pair of goddesses credited with causing winter, though they didn’t have much choice in the matter. The Ancient Greeks didn’t have meteorologists, but they still needed an explanation for …
