The tale of Persephone is a very old story, told long before it was ever written down by voices gathered around fires and fields, passed from one generation to the next.

This myth helps explain the changing seasons of the earth—why green shoots push up through the soil in spring, why leaves fall and days grow shorter in autumn, and why the plants and flowers sleep during the winter’s cold.

At its heart, this is also a story about love and longing, about a mother and daughter whose lives are tied to the rhythms of the natural world. When Persephone’s path leads her away from the light, the earth itself feels the loss. When she returns, life begins again.

Based on the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (Anonymous).