The Story of Persephone
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Why Ravens are Black
Kore was the daughter of Demeter, the Greek Goddess of Grain (essentially Mother Earth). Kore represents the quintessential Maiden of the Triple Goddess; young, beautiful, innocent and unattached.
One day while Kore was picking wildflowers, Hades, the God of the Underworld, saw her and fell in love or lust with her. He caused a great earthquake to open a fissure in the earth, out of which he came galloping on his six-legged black stallion. The dark god swept the startled Kore up into his arms and carried her away with him into the Underworld. (From this we get myriad representations in art of all kinds over millennia of Death and the Maiden).
Her mother, Demeter, came searching for her and found nothing but the scattered wildflowers her daughter had been collecting. Wailing in anguish, the distraught mother searched the world over for her daughter, but could find no sign of her and no one who could tell her what had happened.
Finally, in her grief, Demeter turned cold with anger. She blighted crops. Frigid air descended on the whole world, and plant life everywhere withered and died. The animals began to starve and die as well, and humans had nothing to offer the gods in sacrifice.
Without the sacrifices offered up by humanity, the Olympian Gods too began to starve. They recognized that if Demeter was not satisfied soon, then all life would die out and the Gods themselves would soon perish as well. Zeus, the King of the Gods, discovered that his brother Hades had the girl.
Meanwhile, Persephone had been languishing in the Underworld. She knew it was forbidden to eat or drink anything in the Land of the Dead, but she was so hungry and so thirsty; she took a chance and ate a few pomegranate seeds in secret.
But there was one who saw her eat; a raven (at that time, ravens were white). The raven flew back to his master, Hades, and told the god what he had seen. Thus, when Zeus demanded the return of Kore, Hades refused – she had broken the taboo and according to all rules she had to stay in the Underworld. She became Hades’ Queen, and changed her name to Persephone (a sign of her change in status from Maiden to Matron). But to punish the raven for its betrayal, Persephone cursed it and all its descendants to turn black as a sign of its black heart.
Zeus had a serious dilemma. Finally he broached a compromise – since Persephone had eaten only six seeds, she would only have to stay in the Underworld for six months out of the year. The other six she would be allowed to return to the surface and be with her mother, Demeter.
During the six months that Persephone is in the Land of the Dead, her mother Demeter grieves, and the Earth grows cold and barren once more. Thus the seasons came to be, for each year after this dark winter, Persephone is returned to her mother in spring and Demeter rejoices. The Earth grows warm and bountiful once more.