Ancient Myth and Meaning

HALLOWEEN 3: Preparation for a Journey. Around the end of October, the mythical Sumerian Inanna (Phoenician Asht'rt; Greek Persephone/Kore), according to one cuneiform text, makes her Descent into the Underworld. It is an allegorical representation of the sowing of the corn plant (the cereals, corn/barley). The route to the Underworld is in the wake of the Plough, via the Furrow. The Plough features extensively in the myth. One of the earliest sources featuring the plough is in a Sumerian tablet known as 'The Farmers Instructions', dating from around 1700 BCE . Later, around 700 BCE , Hesiod pens his own Agrarian's Almanac, the 'Works and Days'. From ancient times the plough had attained prime importance in the cultivation of the soil. It has therefore become a central figure in the folklore of many peoples. This lore has survived to the present day, albeit in a confused and obfuscated manner. While the ploughing is done 'when the Pleiades are s

HALLOWEEN 2: Prelude to an Ancient Myth. For more than seven millennia prehistoric man was already cultivating the cereals. That agrarian activity became an ancient myth in metaphor. That metaphor became the basis of several later myths that still exist in folklore. The cereals, mainly corn/wheat and barley, became known as the Noble Grasses due to their importance in averting periodic famine. Hesiod, writing in the classical era, paints a clear and detailed picture on the cultivation of the cereals. On timing Hesiod says "When the Pleiades, daughters of Atlas, are rising, begin your harvest, and your ploughing when they are going to set". The first stage in grain cultivation is the ploughing of the land, in autumn. The grain is then sown after the first rains. The rise and set of the Pleiades indicated when to sow; the bursting of the ripe pomegranate indicated the humidity of the soil. Hesiod also instructs on the tools; primarily the plough. Hesiod says

HALLOWEEN 1:: Ancient agrarian folklore, with equally ancient pagan roots. Related to the dead and the Underworld of ancient legends. A Return to the Underworld. In what is said to be the most ancient myth from Mesopotamia, Inanna (later aka Phoenician Asht'rt; Greek Demeter; Apuleius 'the natural mother of all things') descends into the Netherworld. A later form of the myth from ancient Greece, Demeter's daughter Persephone (Kore; Proserpina) returns to the Netherworld, when the pomegranate splits open as it ripens. Time: October - November. The myth is a metaphoric representation of the sowing of the cereals.