Why BOLS Grenadine? Thank Persephone!

Further to my earlier article recommending a Grenadine mixer for your sparkly gin cocktail, I felt it was important to provide a small article about the particular choice of Grenadine for your drink, if you wish for a more special connection to whatever the ancient deities may bring you.

“Grenade” is a word we know all too well, from its use as a modern weapon of war.  And although we know the most common design for an incendiary grenade is called a “pineapple”, interestingly the name of the weapon itself is also derived from a fruit - because “grenade” is the French word for Pomegranate.

Even more ironic here, is that the pomegranate, in Ancient Greece, was a fruit that represented death, and the underworld.

Grenadine syrup was so named, because its main ingredient - along with sugar, lemon juice, and water - was pomegranate juice.  But most modern concoctions of Grenadine only feature a concentrate of various red berries.  And although I have no vested interest personally in promoting their brand, I recommend BOLS Grenadine, as it is one of the few on the market, and certainly the cheapest, to still include pomegranate in its ingredients.

But apart from a degree of “authenticity”, what’s so important about pomegranate?

Well, for the daughter of one goddess of Olympus, it was truly the most significant fruit in her entire existence.

The Olympian goddess of harvest, farming, bounty, sacred law and of all plants of the fields - Demeter - had a number of daughters; often the myths may tell of different numbers.  But among them was the beautiful and meek Persephone.  Her beauty so captivated the ruler of the underworld, Hades, that he came to the realm above, and stole her away.

When her daughter did not return home, the Olympian gods took no real heed of the bereft Persephone.  Then they tried to appease her with humour, from the goddess Balbo, and her bawdy shenanigans!  Then she made her way to the underworld.  But no matter how much she asserted her demands at Hades, he would not return Persephone.  And the young maiden was, in fact, quite taken with Hades and his quiet charms.  In Olympus, Persephone’s family would so often joke about how dull and grey Hades was.  Such an introverted deity; not cruel or aloof, as the other gods could be.  But he rarely concerned himself with anything, that wasn’t on his side of the River Styx.  He just wanted some company; it gets lonely when all your local friends are merely the souls of dead mortals!  

He offered Persephone some wine.  But she did not thirst.  He offered her fish.  But she insisted that she wasn’t hungry.  After waiting long enough, trying over such a stretch to woo her, he presented Persephone with a fruit truly as sweet and tender as her own lips - a pomegranate, with ruby red seeds shining from inside its broken flesh.  And the young maiden relented; a few seeds wouldn’t hurt.  And a few more would tide her over, until she might get to return to the realm above.

Meanwhile, Demeter become only more and more enraged!  She demanded that Zeus bring Persephone home, by whatever means!  In fact, she insisted that if her demand was not met, then the fields would stay barren.  All of mankind would know of her grief for Persephone.  And all of mankind would starve.

And though the gods of Olympus were so often indifferent to mankind, and would rarely compensate their suffering, barren fields presented them a rather big problem.  For you see, if the mortal humans have no food, then they cannot make offerings.  And if no offerings are made to the gods, then they are diminished.  Faith in them would die out.  And so they would perish.

Demeter had the gods over a barrel.  And who could blame her?  A loving parent will tear apart whole worlds for their child.  Killing both gods and mortal men was a small risk to take, for Demeter to see the return of Persephone.

Taking her seriously at last, Zeus would send someone to the underworld, and insist to Hades that Persephone must be returned.  The divine messenger Hermes was sent.  This part of the myth is not always told the same.  But Hermes is usually seen as an arbiter - someone to seek the most agreeable outcome.  The grievance of Hades was that he should not have to let Persephone leave his realm, since she had eaten food there.  But the food she had eaten only amounted to six little pomegranate seeds!  

It took some convincing from Hermes, but in the end an agreement was made.  Having eaten six of the pomegranate seeds, Persephone would have to spend six months of the year with Hades.  But at the end of those six months, she could return to be with her mother Demeter, in the world above.  Demeter accepted this, grudgingly.  It is said that her sorrow came with every departure of her daughter, and lingered, bringing with it the withering of the deciduous trees, the retreat of the flowers, and lifelessness across fields, and across much more of the land, until all of it would re-emerge, and bloom again with the rising and returning of Persephone.

This tale is a key part of what is known as the Eleusinian Mysteries - the most renowned of all secret rituals, in the religion of Ancient Greece.  According to a work of classical historian Graf, the timings of Persephone’s departure and return did not actually correspond to the barren and fruitful seasons of the Ancient Greek calendar.  However, the reconstructed use of the myth among modern Pagans, in Greece and many other parts of the world, tends to identify the fruitful months as the time when Persephone is with Demeter, which are followed by the harvest just before Persephone descends to the underworld, which is then followed by the months when she is with Hades, now her consort, and Demeter grieves, so the lands are cold and nothing may grow. 

If this did indeed have a different correspondence for the Ancient Greeks, and those today who keep to a more exact interpretation of this myth, then it is possible that the number of pomegranate seeds that Persephone ate was not six, but a different number.  The number may change, depending on the telling, and the region and era in which it was told or recorded.  But the fruit which Persephone ate, which keeps her with Hades for part of the year, has always been a pomegranate.

I recall running a ritual for an Avalonian goddess circle in London many years ago, where I brought a pomegranate that I had picked not much more than a week before, in the small resort where I had been staying in Crete.  Out of a feeling of indulgence, I ate quite a few seeds of that pomegranate.  We jested, that having eaten more than six, I would be trapped in the underworld forever!

Any Grenadine syrup can help to bring a red colour, and a sweet berry flavour to your cocktails - everything from a Squashed Frog to a non-alcoholic Roy Rogers.  But remember that if you wish to make your drink just that little bit more magical, mythical and marvellous, then I recommend a Grenadine like Bols, or any brand which still uses pomegranate in its ingredients.

My next post will introduce a new monthly item - Tee Total Tuesdays - with a special for Ramadan