Demeter is the goddess of all useful fruits, grasses and grains.

Demeter was a
peace-loving deity and the source of all growth and life; she was the goddess who
provided all nutrition on the earth and taught mortals how to cultivate the earth and
ease life. Demeter was most appreciated for introducing wheat to mankind, making
man different from animals.
1. Persephone's youthful beauty drew the attention of Hades, the god of the
underworld, which caused hades to abduct her. So one day when persephone
reached over to pick a flower, the earth opened and the arm of Hades
reached up from the underworld. And so Hades abducted her, dragging her
back to his kingdom. Hearing Persephone's screams, the goddess Demeter
rushes to the meadow, but cannot find Persephone. Carrying a torch,
Demeter traveled the world day and night, never eating or resting, searching
futilely for her daughter.
2. Demeter searched everywhere for her, taking on the form as a mortal old
woman. She was given shelter by the king of Eleusis and repaid the favour by
teaching his son the secrets of agriculture. Her struggle to save her daughter,
Persephone from the underworld led to the creation of the seasons.This was
because when Persephone was allowed to join her mother, this Deities
influence encouraged the crops grow and Spring arrived. When her daughter
returned to Hades, Demeter fell into a deep depression, the plants stopped
growing and Winter returned.
3. Alarmed by the barren of Earth, Zeus sent his messenger, Hermes, to the
underworld to bring back Persephone. Hades then agreed to release her if
she hadnt eaten anything while in the underworld. But Persephone had
eaten a small amount of pomegranate seeds. This bound her to Hades for
four months every year, either autumn and winter or dry Mediterranean
summer. Demeter would withdraw her gifts from the earth, thus creating
winter. Persephones return will brought spring.
4. Zeus was the first of the two brothers who tried to win. Although he suddenly
fell in love with Demeter, he did not crave and besiege her as much as he did
to Hera. The conscious and constant resistances of his sister made him think
of cheats to trick her. Zeus transformed into a bull and managed to outwit her
and from their union Persephone was born, the one and only beloved
daughter of Demeter.
5. Karl Kerenyi asserted that poppies were connected with a Cretan cult which
was transmitted to the Eleusinian mysteries in Classical Greece: "It seems
probable that the GreatMother Goddess who bore the names Rhea and
Demeter, brought the poppy with her from her Cretan cult to Eleusis and it is
almost certain that in the Cretan cult sphere opium was prepared from
poppies." And so Poppies were used in Greco-Roman myths as offerings to the
dead. Robert Graves believed that a second meaning of the depiction and use

of poppies in the Greco-Roman myths is the symbolism of the bright scarlet

colour as signifying the promise of resurrection after death