Demeter is the Greek Goddess of Vegetation and Fruitfulness and of the Corn. The word 'Demeter' means 'Mother Earth', the abundant soil as well as the resting place of the dead. The Goddess Demeter posessed mysterious powers of growth and even resurrection. Rites for Demeter were celebrated annualy in the Autumn, when through music and dancing her worshippers recalled the loss and rediscovery of her daughter Persephone. For the Greeks Persephone was also known as 'Kore' 'The Maiden' and was identified as the power within the corn itself.

     The story of Persephone goes that when she was a child, her father Zeus without consulting her mother Demeter, agreed to his brother Hades request that Persephone should be his bride and rule the Underworld with him. But Hades was impatient and wouldn't wait for her to be his bride. So when Persephone was out picking Narcissus flowers in a field, Hades rose from the earth and abducted her and took her to the underworld. Persephone pined for her mother and refused to eat any food.
     Meanwhile in the Land Of The Living her mother Demeter wandered the earth searching for her daughter. Demeter lost all interest in fertility and the land, so the plants and crops died and the animals stopped multiplying. As mankind was now begining to suffer Zeus then intervened and ruled that Hades must give up Persephone if she would not consent into staying with him. But by this time Persephone had eaten something in Hades realm, a pomegranate or in some sources 6 pomegranate seeds. As she had done this Zeus said that she had accepted her role as Queen Of The Underworld and that she could never return entirely to the Land Of The Living World. So it was ruled by Zeus that Persephone should spend time each year with both her husband and mother in equal amounts. This associates with the death and rebirth of the seasons, when Persephone rises annualy from the underworld in time with the natures cycle of Spring and Harvesting.