Greek myth explains why spring is lovely

Ithink that a sunny day in May in Ohio might be the sweetest thing on Earth. This year, however, May has started with below-normal temperatures and conditions are not as idyllic as usual.

On a typical May day, birds sing love songs and there is a kaleidoscope of color wherever you look.

Even May’s moon has a beautiful name. The flower moon will be full on Wednesday.

But I was told that May has not always been this beautiful.

Tom Burns, director of Perkins Observatory in Delaware County, said that during mythological times, all of spring and summer were just a continuation of winter.

The world, he said, was in bad shape.

Burns also told me how it was made beautiful again.

“When I think of May, I think of the constellation Virgo, the virgin, which is visible now in the southeastern sky after dark,” he said.

According to Greek mythology, Demeter was the goddess of the harvest. She made things grow.

It so happened she had a beautiful daughter by the name of Persephone, who also is called Virgo. Demeter loved her greatly. Hades, though, the god of the underworld, was very much attracted to Persephone, so he kidnapped her and took her to the underworld.

According to Burns, Demeter was so distraught by the loss of her daughter that she did not take care of her duties. She spent all her time searching for Persephone. As a consequence, the plants died and starvation spread over the land.

According to the laws of the gods, if Persephone partook of any of Hades’ hospitality, she was doomed to stay with him for eternity.

She was so consumed by hunger that she ate three persimmon seeds. So it seemed her goose was cooked.

But Zeus, the king of the gods, could not let the people starve. He knew where Persephone was being kept, so he went to the underworld to negotiate with Hades.

He worked out a deal that would allow Persephone to spend only three months a year in the underworld, one month for each seed she ate; the rest of the year, she could be with her mother in the heavens.

So now as Virgo rises, Demeter is filled with joy and the plants begin to grow and the world is filled with plenty. But as Virgo returns to the underworld for the winter months, Demeter is consumed with anguish and pain, and the plants die and hunger rules the world.

“That’s why I think of Virgo in May,” Burns said.

The month of May is finally here, what a lovely time of year. (If it was a bit warmer.)

Persephone is back with her mother and all is right with the world.