Goddesses
of Spring
By
Lisa Michelle
Even
though the weather this year seems determined to skip over spring and launch
straight into summer, spring is an important part of the yearly cycle and has a
large amount of mythology, folklore, and ritual attributed to it. After all, spring marks the end of the cold
dark days of winter and the beginning of new life in the agricultural
world. The spring goddess is generally
depicted in maiden form, renewed from her crone self from the winter months,
but not yet the mother of abundance that she will be once summer gets
underway. Today, let’s look briefly at a
few of the goddesses of spring.
Flora
Flora
is a Roman goddess of spring and flowering plants. She is quite an ancient goddess as the first
known occurrence of her festival was in 240 B.C.E. Flora was depicted by the Romans as a maiden
wearing light yellow or light green spring clothing, a crown of blossoms, and
carrying bouquets of flowers. Honey, being made from the pollen of flowers, was
considered one of her gifts to man.
Her
festival, the Floralia, was held
between April 28 and May 3. By the time
of the Roman empire, her festival was marked with chariot races and bawdy
theatrical performances. People wore
brightly colored clothing and carried wreaths of flowers, indulging in drink,
merriment, and activities of an amorous nature, not unlike the Western European
festival of Beltaine. During the height
of the Roman empire, the Floralia
gained a reputation for being even more wild and licentious than Saturnalia.
Persephone
Persephone
is a Greek goddess of spring growth who was worshipped alongside her mother Demeter
in the Eleusinian Mysteries. This agricultural-based cult promised its
initiates passage to a blessed afterlife.
She is also Hades wife and Queen of the Underworld. Persephone was also known as Kore, which
means the maiden, and was considered the goddess of spring's bounty.
Long
ago while playing in a flowery meadow with her Nymph companions, Kore was
seized by Hades and carried off to the underworld to be his bride. Her mother,
Demeter, despaired at her disappearance and searched for her the throughout the
world accompanied by the goddess Hecate bearing torches. She refused to
let the earth fruit until Persephone was returned. Zeus consented, but because
the girl had eaten food of the Underworld--a handful of pomegranate seeds--she
was forced to forever spend a part of the year with her husband in the Underworld.
Her annual return to the earth in spring was marked by the flowering of the
meadows and the sudden growth of the new grain. Her return to the underworld in
winter, conversely, saw the dying down of plants and the halting of growth.
Blodeuwedd
Blodeuwedd
is a Welsh goddess, created out of nine types of flower blossoms to be the wife
of Llew. This was to circumvent a curse
laid on Llew by his mother, Arianrhod, that he would never have a wife from any
race then on the earth. Unfortunately,
Blodeuwedd fell in love with another man, and plotted with him to murder Llew.
She was punished for this by being turned into a night-bird, the owl. Blodeuwedd represents temporary beauty and
the bright blossoming that must come full circle through death; she is the
promise of autumn visible in spring.
References:
Goddess Invocations: Blodeuwedd. Available at
Grimassi,
R. Beltane. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn
Publications, 2001.
McCoy,
E. Ostara. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn
Publications, 2003.
myths/greek_goddess_persephone.htm.
