[Sca-cooks] Re: Persephone and pomegranite seeds

[elisabetta at klotz.org]

>
> Pomegranate
> Originating in Asia, the pomegranate tree is mentioned in the Old
> Testament and has been a symbol of religious significance for centuries
> in many countries.

Actually in Jewish tradition, the fruit from the Tree of Life that Eve 
ate from
was either a pomegranate or a fig. It was not an apple. And you eat them on
Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur (if you can find them) to insure a good year.

You can eat the seeds. Especially if they are soft.

And the story is Greek, so it should be Demeter, not Ceres. Demeter was the
goddess of the harvest and fertility. The Romans downgraded her into 
Ceres, the
goddess of grain. One day you're a powerful deity and then the Romans 
invade and
people associate you with wheat.

But the Persephone story is similar to the Garden of Eden story. It's about
children growing up and going out on their own and no longer being 
sheltered by
their parents. And some say that Persephone ate the pomeganate on purpose.

Encyclopedia Mythica
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/p/persephone.html

Bulfinch Mythology Online
http://www.bulfinch.org/fables/search.html

:)
Elisabetta