Demeter
Demeter is the second child born to Cronus and Rhea. She is the Goddess of fertility and harvest, and is often portrayed sitting as a solemn woman, wearing a wreath of braided ears of corn. Demeter taught mankind the art of sowing and plowing so that they could end their nomadic wanderings. As such, Demeter is also known as the Goddess of planned society and was popular with the rural population. By Zeus, Demeter became the mother of Persephone, the goddess of vegetation, who as a child loved to frolic in the fields and orchards. Her gaiety gave great joy to Demeter, who blessed the earth with great fruitfulness. But the joy and beauty of Persephone attracted Hades, Lord of the Underworld, and he stole up on and kidnapped Persephone, bringing her to his underground to serve as his Queen. Broken-hearted, Demeter wandered the Earth in search of her lost daughter until Helios, the all-seeing, revealed to her what had happened. Demeter grew angry with this news and withdrew into herself in loneliness. During this period, Demeter became an old woman and refused to do her duty as fertility Goddess. Plants shriveled and the harvest suffered greatly.
Eventually Demeter went to Zeus and begged him to release Persephone from Hades. Needing Demeter to help fertilize the Earth, Zeus agreed, sending Hermes speeding to the underworld to free Persephone. But when Hermes arrived in the underworld, he found that Persephone had eaten six seeds of the pomegranate, food of the dead, meaning she could not entirely return to the upper world. Hades decreed that Persephone might return for six months of the year, but had to spend the other six months with Hades. Even Zeus was powerless to intervene.
So, in the six months she remained in the underworld, Winter would rule. When she came home to visit her mother, Summer would come with her.
Kitiana - Home of Myths, Legends and Stories.