Proserpina was picking flowers in a meadow when the king of the underworld took her down to his kingdom. The Greeks called her Persephone, but the Romans told her story as the reason we have seasons.
Proserpina's mother was Ceres, who looked after every field and garden in the world, so Proserpina spent her days wandering the meadows and picking flowers. One morning she wandered a little too far, and Pluto, the king of the underworld, drove up in his chariot and carried her down to his kingdom to be his queen. She didn't even get to say goodbye.
Ceres searched everywhere with a torch to light her way through the night. When she still couldn't find her daughter she was so sad that she stopped the crops from growing, and the whole world began to go hungry. Finally the king of the gods stepped in and told Pluto that Proserpina had to go home.
There was just one problem. Proserpina had eaten a few pomegranate seeds down in the underworld, and anyone who eats the food there has to return. So now she shares her year between the two worlds. When she's up above with her mother the world turns green and warm, and when she goes back down Ceres grieves and the cold comes. That's why the first spring flowers feel a bit like Proserpina coming home.
Ceres was the Roman goddess of grain, and the reason there's cereal in your breakfast bowl, since the word comes from her name. Her temple stood on a hill in Rome, and every April the whole city threw a festival for her.
