Why the Garden Goes to Sleep

Long ago, the ancient Greeks told a story to explain the seasons.

Demeter was the goddess of the harvest. She made the wheat grow tall and the fruit trees heavy. Her daughter, Persephone, loved the sunshine and spent her days among the flowers.

One day, Persephone traveled deep underground to the kingdom of Hades, far from the sun. While she was there, she ate a few seeds from a pomegranate. In that underground kingdom, anyone who ate its food had to return. So it was decided: Persephone would spend part of each year underground and the rest of the year above, with her mother.

When Persephone goes underground, Demeter misses her so much that she lets the plants rest. The leaves fall, the days grow short, and the garden sleeps. That is fall and winter. When Persephone comes back, Demeter is so happy that everything blooms again. That is spring!