dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (05/05/85)
The constellation Virgo is associated with a myth about springtime. More -- right after this. May 5: The Myth of Persephone The constellation identified with springtime is now in the sky each evening. It's Virgo, the Virgin. Virgo isn't easy to see since her stars are mostly faint. But you can pick out her brightest star -- blue-white Spica -- now in the southeast each evening. The name Spica means "ear of wheat." The constellation Virgo has long been called an Earth-goddess, associated with the coming of spring. There are many legends about this fertile goddess -- like the Greek myth about Demeter and Persephone. It's said that Hades, the god of the underworld, fell in love with Persephone. But Demeter -- the Earth-goddess and Persephone's mother -- forbid the pair to marry. She knew that if her daughter married Hades, she'd leave her mother forever and go to live in the underworld. Finally Hades was forced to steal Persephone. He saw her one day picking flowers in a field -- and swept her away in his black chariot. Without Persephone, Demeter refused to be comforted. She roamed around searching for her daughter -- and neglected her duties as Earth-goddess. A famine hung over the land -- and finally the king of the gods was forced to work out a compromise. Persephone would spend six months with her husband and six months on Mount Olympus, with her mother. Now, according to the legend, when Persephone spends her six months in the underworld, the Earth-goddess Demeter grieves -- and we have winter. But when Persephone comes back to Mount Olympus, joy returns to the goddess -- and we experience spring. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin