Hades, the god of the underworld fell in love with beautiful Persephone, daughter of Zeus and Demeter. He asked his brother Zeus for permission to marry her and Zeus agreed. But knowing that Demeter would not agree to the marriage, Zeus permitted Hades to abduct Persephone. So one day while she was gathering flowers with her friends, Hades burst out of the ground in his chariot, snatched Persephone and took her into the underworld...
Demeter, when she found her daughter had disappeared, disguised herself as an old woman and with lighted torches in her hands roamed the Earth looking for her daughter. In the depth of her despair, she forbade the earth to produce fruit (or she neglects the earth which results in nothing growing).
Finally, Demeter met Hekate, the old Witch. Hekate took pity on Demeter and told her to seek help from the all seeing Helios, the sun god. She did and Helios told Demeter all about how Hades had dragged Persephone into the underworld.
Persephone’s mother, Demeter, then begged her brother Hades to allow Persephone to come back to the world of the living, saying that the young Persephone was not supposed to live in the world of the dead. Hades first ignored her pleadings. But finally Zeus intervened and forced Hades to let Persephone leave. He did that because he was pressed by the cries of the hungry people and by the complaints of other deities, who because of the famine, weren't getting their sacrifices...
Hades complied with Zeus's order. But first he tricked Persephone, giving her some pomegranate seeds to eat. And because she had tasted food in the underworld, she was obliged to spend a third of each year (the winter months) there, and the remaining part of the year with the gods above.
I explained why why pomegranate is the fruit Hades gave Persephone to eat in the underworld in these two posts: Poppies and pomegranates and Abduction of Persephone...
Interestingly the same motif of
dead person (lord of the dead) → appears to living person (in reality or in a dream) → offers food → living person accepts/eats → the person dies or remains trapped in the land of the dead
is found in several cultures across the world.
I will post the data about each one here:
Brittany — France
W. Y. Evans-Wentz, reporting Breton traditions, says that a mortal may encounter one of the dead, who may induce him to eat their food.
If he does: "he will never be able to return among the living."
You can read more about this in The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries by W. Y. Evans Wentz
Denmark
In the Danish Saxo Grammaticus we read of King Gorm who went with several companions to seek a treasure-land in the north ruled by King Geirröd in the underworld. After many adventures they reached the hall of Gudmund, Geirröd’s brother, where Thorkill, the guide and adviser to the expedition, warned them not to touch food or drink. In spite of the warning some were tempted and were unable to return.
You can read more about this in The Science of Fairy Tales An Inquiry into Fairy Mythology by Edwin Sidney Hartland. In chapter 3, Hartland gives Swabian, Lapp, Swedish, Manx, Scottish and Jewish versions of this folk tale.
Scotland
The chief Scottish analogue appears in connection with Thomas of Erceldoune, the Rhymer. See also J. G. Campbell, Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, Glasgow, 1900, p. 17.
When one visits the land of the fairies (the dead)..."wise people recommend that, in the circumstances, a man should not utter a word till he comes out again, nor, on any account, taste Fairy food or drink. If he abstains he is very likely before long dismissed, but if he indulges he straightway loses the will and the power ever to return to the society of men".
Māori — New Zealand
One account concerns a woman who believes she has died and visits the spirit land. There she encounters her dead father. He tells her that she must return to earth to care for her child, and warns her: "if she eats the food there, she cannot return to life". She refuses food offered by the dead and returns to the land of the living.
You can read more about this in Primitive culture by John Murray
Another Māori story talks aout a man who descends to the realm of the dead and was given food to bring with him with a warning to avoid eating the food from the land of the dead, "because doing so would prevent his return".
You can read more about this in Te Ika a Māui, or, New Zealand and its inhabitants : illustrating the origin, manners, customs, mythology, religion, rites, songs, proverbs, fables and language of the Māori and Polynesian races in general ; together with the geology, natural history, productions, and climate of the country by Taylor, Richard
Eastern Melanesia
A woman goes to Panoi, the abode of the dead, specifically to see her dead brother. Her brother warns her not to eat anything there: "If she eats the food of the dead, she will be permanently retained in the underworld".
You can read more about this in The Science of Fairy Tales An Inquiry into Fairy Mythology by Edwin Sidney Hartland.
New Caledonia
According to the 19th-century account when a newly dead person arrives in the spirit world, he is welcomed by other souls and invited to a banquet. He is offered food, especially bananas. If he tastes them: "his doom is fixed forever and he cannot return to earth".
You can read more about this in Apollodorus. The Library, with an English translation by James George Frazer
Sioux / Dakota — North America
Ahak-tah (“Male Elk”) appears to die and his soul travels into the country of the dead. He reaches the houses of his dead ancestors and encounters his uncle. He sees wild rice and wants to eat it, but his uncle prevents him because: "if he had eaten the food of the spirits, he would never have returned to earth".
You can read more about this in Primitive culture by John Murray
West Africa
Mafa people believe that if in a dream, you are visited by a dead person, who tries to persuade you to follow him/her to the underworld, and you accept something to eat from the dead, this means you are giving consent to follow the dead into the underworld...You can read more about this in The Mafa belief system by Godula Kosack.
Palawan/Palawano — southern Philippines
"Seeing a dead relative in a dream and being offered food by him or her is very dangerous; one will die if one accepts the food in the dream"...
You can read more about it in UNCULTURAL BEHAVIOR, An Anthropological Investigation of Suicide in the Southern Philippines by Charles J-H Macdonald
Ancient Egypt
The ancient Egyptian conception described in the classical comparative literature has the soul travelling toward the realm of the dead, where a goddess — identified in different accounts as Hathor, Nut or Neith — offers fruit, bread and water. If the soul accepts them, it cannot return to earth.
You can read more about this in Apollodorus. The Library, with an English translation by James George Frazer
Mesopotamia
That the knowledge of the danger of eating in another world was fully recognised in the earliest times known to us is clear from a curious use made of it in a Babylonian myth. The motif occurs in the Adapa Legend, as described and translated by M. Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, Boston, 1898, pp. 544-555.
The beginning of the story is missing, but when the tablet becomes intelligible we find Adapa, a fisherman, engaged in a contest with the South wind, which is represented in the form of a bird. In anger Adapa breaks the wings of the South wind, and for seven days [ i.e. an indefinite period] the wind does not blow. Anu, the God of Heaven, inquires into this strange phenomenon, and on hearing the reason, summons the fisherman into his presence. The god Ea is told to yield him up. Before doing so, however, Ea gives him advice as to how he should behave before Anu. Among other injunctions he says:
“When thou comest before Anu they will offer thee food of death. Do not eat. They will offer thee waters of death. Do not drink. They will offer thee a garment. Put it on. They will offer thee oil. Anoint thyself. The order that I give thee do not neglect....”
Adapa follows his instructions carefully, but as he has now viewed the secrets of heaven, there is nothing left for the gods to do but to admit him to their circle. Accordingly they must make him immortal, and the story continues:
“Now what shall we grant him? Offer him food of life, that he may eat of it. They brought it to him, but he did not eat. Waters of life they brought him, but he did not drink. A garment they brought him. He put it on. Oil they brought him. He anointed himself.”
Adapa has followed his instructions too carefully, and has failed to notice the trick that Ea has played on him. It was food and waters of death he was not to touch, but Adapa was following the principle of taboo for personal safety. Ea, as the god of humanity, would not want his creatures to gain immortality, and so adopted a plan he knew would work.
Japan
Izanami has died and gone to Yomi, the land of the dead. Izanagi follows her and asks her to return. She replies that she has already eaten the food cooked in the hearths of Yomi and therefore cannot simply return.
You can read more about this in Shinto myths.
India
In the Katha Upanishad we read about Nachiketas who goes to the house of Yama, Death, and remains there for three nights. He is specifically praised because he has remained there: "without eating": "Three nights within his mansion stay, / But taste not ... his food."
You can read more about this in Metrical translations from Sanskrit writers by J Muir
No comments:
Post a Comment