Ceres

Goddess of Crops and Growing Things

Ceres was the Roman goddess of grain, farming, fertility and the food produced from the earth. Her symbols included wheat, poppies, torches and baskets of produce. Romans linked her with the Greek Demeter, but Ceres also had an important Roman role protecting farmers and the food supply. Her name even survives in the English word ‘cereal’. That is a very useful clue because grain was not just one type of food in Rome. It was essential for bread and for feeding a huge population.

Ceres’s most famous story concerns her daughter Proserpina. Pluto, ruler of the underworld, carries Proserpina away while she is gathering flowers. Ceres searches everywhere with burning torches. She is so upset and angry that she stops crops from growing, and humans begin to face starvation. Jupiter finally orders Proserpina’s return. However, Proserpina has eaten pomegranate seeds in the underworld, so she cannot leave forever. A compromise means she spends part of the year with Ceres and part below with Pluto. When mother and daughter are reunited, plants grow again.

Ceres had an important temple on Rome’s Aventine Hill and was closely connected with ordinary citizens as well as farmers. Her festival, the Cerealia, took place in April with games and performances. Roman writers describe some strange customs, including foxes running in the Circus with burning material attached to them, although historians are not completely sure why this happened. Ceres could also punish people who treated nature badly. In one myth, Erysichthon cuts down trees in her sacred grove and is cursed with endless hunger. No matter how much he eats, he never feels full. Ceres therefore represented both generous harvests and the danger of wasting or disrespecting what the earth provided. I think her story works so well because food and family are things children can understand immediately. When Ceres loses someone she loves, even the fields seem to grieve with her.

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