Demeter was known as a goddess of grain--of fertility, of successful harvests--and therefore a very important deity for an agrarian people. As the devoted mother of Persephone, she is also a mother goddess--the most maternal of any of the Greek goddesses. *

Myth

Demeter's best known myth is of course the story of the abduction of her daughter, Persephone, by Hades. In her anguish she caused the earth to become barren, and would not return its fertility until Persephone was returned; however, while in the underworld Persephone had eaten several pomegranate seeds--and, having eaten in the underworld, she had to stay there for some months of the year. Each year, while Persephone was with her mother, the earth was fruitful; but when she went to be with her husband, Demeter's mourning caused the infertile season of the year.

Another story of Demeter has to do with Poseidon's pursuit of her, and her self-transformation into a horse in an attempt to avoid his advances (not a good plan given Poseidon's own connection with horses--he turned into a stallion and succeeded in gaining his desire).

Yet another tale tells how Demeter punished Erysichthon for cutting down the trees in one of her sacred groves, and for threatening her with an axe when, in disguise, she attempted to stop him. It was a particularly nasty punishment: she gave him an insatiable hunger that caused him to eat everything in his home, to become a beggar, and finally--when there was nothing left--to devour himself

Worship

Demeter's worship was widespread; she was honored in numerous festivals**, including:

• The Eleusian Mysteries, easily the most important of Demeter's festivals, drew men and women from all over Greece. The rituals were secret, and the participants kept these secrets so well that we know almost nothing about them; however, they seem to have had something to do with guaranteeing initiates a better place in the afterlife.
• Haloa, a festival to Demeter and Dionysos involving explicit sexual language and imagery, very likely a fertility festival!
• Skira, a women's fertility festival
• Stenia, a women's festival preceding the Thesmophoria, of which little is known.
• Thesmophoria, a women's festival of which, again, little is known, although it seems to have been connected with fertility

References

• Burkert, Walter. Greek Religion. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1985.
• Gantz, Timothy. Early Greek Myth, Volumes 1 and 2. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1993.
• Kerenyi, Karl. The Gods of the Greeks. Thames and Hudson, London, 1951.
• Parke, H.W. Festivals of the Athenians. Thames and Hudson, London, 1977.
• Simon, Erika. Festivals of Attica: An Archaeological Commentary. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, Wisconsin, 1983.