17 April: Ceres

Around this time of year in ancient Rome, celebrations and games would be in full swing honouring the goddess Ceres, Goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility and the love of a mother for her child. This Festival culminated in the Cerealia, on the 19th.

1. Her name comes from a Proto-Indo-European word meaning to satiate, or feed. From the same root word comes the Latin word crescere "to grow", from which we get the English words create and increase. From Ceres, we also get the word cereal, for edible grains.
2. She was the daughter of Saturn and Ops, and the lover of Jupiter (who was also her brother). They had a daughter, Proserpine.
3. The best known myth about Ceres is the one where Pluto, god of the underworld, took a fancy to Proserpine and carried her off to the underworld to marry her. Jupiter was okay with it, and gave Pluto permission to marry his daughter, but Ceres was furious. She stopped all the plants from growing, causing a famine. No amount of persuasion from Jupiter and the other gods would change her mind. Jupiter went to Pluto to ask for Proserpine back. While Pluto seemed to comply, he secretly gave Proserpine some food before she left. Once a person has eaten in the underworld it means they can never permanently leave. Hence Proserpine has to spend four months of every year with Pluto in the underworld. During that time, Ceres stops all the plants from growing. When Proserpine comes back to her, she allows things to start growing again. This is how the ancient Romans explained the cycle of the seasons.
4. Ceres is the goddess responsible for teaching the human race agriculture. Until she came along, people lived on acorns and wandered the land without any laws. Ceres showed them how to plough the soil, plant, grow and harvest Wheat. She introduced laws to protect the crops. Breaking these laws, which included allowing livestock to graze on someone else's wheat field, casting spells on a neighbour's crops, disrespecting field boundaries and stealing grain, resulted in severe penalties, including heavy fines, whipping and even death - being hanged "for Ceres".
5. She was also the goddess who protected the transitions of women from girlhood to womanhood, from unmarried to married life and motherhood; and the boundaries between the lands of the living and the dead.
6. At Roman weddings, the procession would be led by a boy carrying the torch of Ceres, made from may wood to symbolise fertility. Rites for funerals included, if the family could afford it, the sacrifice of a Pig. Ceres didn't actually like pigs very much because they'd dig up crops - so killing one in her name was helping protect the harvest. Poorer families would offer wheat or flowers instead.
7. The week long festival of Ceres every April would begin with a Horse race in the Circus Maximus, beginning opposite her temple. Afterwards, there was a cruel event where people set foxes' tails on fire and release them into the circus. For some reason torturing foxes in this way was supposed to cleanse the crops and protect them from vermin. There was a festival held in the fields in May which also honoured Ceres. Three times a year, on August 24, October 5 and November 8, a pit called the mundus cerialis or "world of Ceres" was opened up for people to bring offerings to Ceres in her role as guardian of the boundaries between the living and the dead. On these occasions the spirits of the dead could visit the world of the living for the day. In January, a pregnant sow would be sacrificed for her, and a small offering of grain would be made just before the harvest. According to Ovid, this didn't need to be much - Ceres was content with small offerings as long as they were pure.
8. The Romans had an expression, "fit for Ceres," meaning splendid.
9. The dwarf planet Ceres is named after her and so you could say so was the chemical element cerium, which was named after the planet.
10. Even in modern day America Ceres has her place as a symbol of prosperity and fertility. She was depicted on ten and twenty Confederate States of America dollar notes; her statue is on top of the Missouri State Capitol and the Vermont State House, both states where agriculture is important to the economy; and on top of the Chicago Board of Trade Building, where trading of agricultural commodities takes place.

More details about my books. Follow this link if you like Superheroes, Psychics and/or quirky short stories. 

I've listed the themes each novel touches on here for easy reference.

Like my author page on Facebook for news on new books and blog posts.

Follow me on Twitter and Pinterest

Check out my Writing blog