Gods, Grain & the Eternal Larder

The Fate of Persephone By Walter Crane, 1877

It’s easy, in the rhythm of our home kitchens—meals in, meals out, jars up, jars down—for food preservation to start feeling mundane. Especially in a world where sustenance has largely been driven into the territory of commodity, severing the connection it once held so deeply with the natural cycles of the earth. I’ve fallen into that mindset at times as well. But the act of storing food, of holding onto nourishment through time and season, is anything but ordinary.

For generations, across nearly every culture, we’ve woven food preservation into our myths and legends. Which makes sense—because it’s not just a craft. It’s magic. A single seed becomes a plant that feeds us now, offers food for later, and creates countless more seeds that could sustain entire communities for generations. Seed lineages can span hundreds, even thousands of years. That kind of abundance, from something so small, feels miraculous.

No wonder, then, that these acts were once so closely tied to the divine. The lore stretches wide—Christian, Greek, Indigenous, African, Buddhist, and beyond. Nearly every spiritual tradition holds food storage as something sacred. And yet, this incredible power isn’t reserved for the gods. We all have access to it.

We’d be careless to let these practices fall to the wayside.

Before pressure canners, cellars, and jars, there were stories. Tales of goddesses who guarded the grain, of underworld bargains that marked the start and end of the harvest, of magical feasts that never spoiled. In this piece, I’ll share some of my favorite myths—reminders that preservation has never been just about food. It has always been about memory, season, spirit, and survival.

Demeter, Persephone, Hades and the First Winter

One of the oldest and most enduring food and season myths comes from ancient Greece, and it's one I first read as a child in D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths—a version that still sticks with me today. 

Persephone, daughter of Demeter—the goddess of the harvest—was gathering flowers in a field when the earth split open beneath her. From the crack emerged Hades, god of the underworld, who swept her away to be his bride.

Demeter, not knowing what had happened, searched for her daughter endlessly. And as she grieved, the earth changed. The soil froze, crops withered, and the first winter settled over the land. Nothing could grow while Demeter mourned.

Eventually, Demeter discovered that Hades had taken Persephone, and she demanded her return. Zeus agreed—but when Persephone was brought back to the surface, it was revealed that she had eaten a few seeds of a pomegranate while in the underworld. The food of the dead.

Because of this, Zeus decreed that Persephone would have to return to Hades for one month each year for every seed she had eaten. During that time, Demeter would again fall into grief, and nothing would grow—thus marking the beginning of winter.

Even now, the seasons still turn with this ancient rhythm: when Persephone returns to the surface, the earth wakes, buds bloom, and Demeter rejoices. And when she descends once more, the harvest ends and winter returns.

Ala: Earth Goddess and Keeper of the Harvest (Igbo, West Africa)

Ala by the artist, Ezem, in Enyiogugu, Aboh-Mbaise, Nigeria, 1960. Photo by Herbert M. Cole

In Igbo tradition, Ala is the goddess of the earth, fertility, morality, and the ancestors. She is the one who holds the land, who gives the harvest, and who receives the dead back into the soil. Her domain is both life-giving and deeply sacred.

Traditionally, grain stores and yam barns were not just practical—they were spiritual. Yams, a staple crop, were harvested with ritual and reverence, and the barns where they were kept were protected as extensions of Ala’s body. To misuse them, or to waste food, was to offend her.

There’s something profoundly grounding in this worldview: that food storage is not just resourceful, but relational. The larder is not just a pantry—it’s a pact between the living, the land, and those who came before.

Selu: The First Woman, the Corn Mother (Cherokee)

Original Artist Unknown, Corn Mother

Selu, the first woman in Cherokee tradition, fed her family every day with corn and beans she brought from a hidden place. Her sons, suspicious of her ability, followed her and discovered her secret: Selu was rubbing corn from her body, drawing food from herself to sustain them.

Frightened by what they didn’t understand, her sons believed it was unnatural and caused her death. But before she died, Selu gave instructions for how to plant and tend corn—so her body would continue to feed them through the earth itself.

Selu’s story is tender, tragic, and full of power. It reminds us that food is a gift, that it comes from sacrifice, and that preserving seed, grain, and knowledge is how we carry that original generosity forward.

The Moon Rabbit and the Mortar of Rice (East Asian Folklore)

Unknown, Japan c.1800s

Look up at the moon in East Asian folklore, and you won’t see a man in the moon—you’ll see a rabbit. There it is, in silhouette, kneeling beside a mortar, forever pounding rice into mochi.

There are many versions of the story, but in most, the rabbit gives itself willingly as an offering of food, or is rewarded for its kindness with eternal life on the moon. Up there, it prepares sustenance with quiet rhythm, mirroring the daily acts of preservation and nourishment we carry out down here.

The moon rabbit is a soft symbol of abundance, humility, and the sacred repetition of keeping others fed. In every batch of rice cakes, every jar sealed at night, there’s a bit of that rabbit’s quiet devotion.

The Cailleach and the Last Sheaf (Scottish Gaelic Folklore)

Illustration by John Duncan in Wonder Tales from Scottish Myth and Legend c. 1917

In the Scottish Highlands, the Cailleach is the divine hag of winter—harsh, wild, and wise. She brings the cold and frost, striking the earth with her staff to stop it from growing.

But her reign is seasonal. Farmers knew when her grip was loosening by watching the land warm again. In many traditions, the last sheaf of grain harvested in autumn was kept aside for her—sometimes fashioned into a doll, sometimes burned, sometimes buried in the field. It was an offering, a way of honoring the old season before welcoming the new.

The Cailleach teaches that food storage is also about transition. It marks what we’ve gathered, what we’ve survived, and what we must hold onto to make it through until the land returns to us again.

Amaterasu and the Sealed Rice Fields (Japanese Shinto)

By Utagawa Kunisada (歌川貞; b. 1786, d. 1865)

Amaterasu, goddess of the sun, once fled the world in sorrow after her brother’s violent outburst. She sealed herself inside a cave, and the world was plunged into darkness.

Without sunlight, the rice fields failed. The sacred crop of Japan, rice, could not grow. Famine loomed. It took the laughter of the gods, a mirror, and a dance to lure Amaterasu back into the world—restoring light, warmth, and the conditions for rice to flourish again.

This story is a reminder that preservation isn’t just about storing food—it’s about guarding the conditions that make food possible: light, warmth, community, and joy. Without those, nothing can grow.

Joseph and the Seven Years of Plenty (Hebrew Bible / Old Testament)

Joseph and the Dream, Free Bible Images

In the Book of Genesis, Joseph—sold into slavery by his brothers—rises to power in Egypt after interpreting a dream for Pharaoh. In the dream, seven fat cows are devoured by seven skinny ones, and seven full ears of grain are swallowed by seven shriveled ones. Joseph explains that the dream is a warning: Egypt will experience seven years of abundance followed by seven years of famine.

Pharaoh then appoints Joseph to prepare. During the plentiful years, Joseph oversees the collection and storage of grain—enough to feed the entire kingdom and then some. When the famine hits, Egypt is ready. People from surrounding lands even come to trade for food, including Joseph’s own family.

It’s one of the earliest and most well-known preservation stories in Western tradition. It’s about reading the signs, listening closely, and using times of plenty to prepare for times of want. And just like so many other food stories wrapped in sacred texts—it’s not just about survival. It’s about reconciliation, wisdom, and care for the wider community.

What We Carry Forward

If people across history—across continents, cultures, and belief systems—saw the changing seasons, the storing of food, and the mystery of seeds as sacred enough to write into their most divine stories, then maybe we can pause for a moment and see these practices for what they really are.

They are not mundane. They are not chores. They are acts of reverence.

Every time we plant a seed, preserve a jar, or share from our pantry, we’re participating in something ancient. We’re not just preserving tomatoes or peaches—we’re preserving memory, season, community, planet, and legacy. These rituals, once honored by gods and woven into myth, still live through our hands.

So don’t doubt the power of what you do. Whether it’s in a bustling kitchen or a quiet cellar, you are part of the eternal larder.

Reference Section

A collection of sources and suggested reading for the myths, legends, and sacred stories explored in “Gods, Grain, and the Eternal Larder”

Demeter, Persephone, and the Origin of Winter (Greek Mythology)

  • D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths, Ingri & Edgar Parin d’Aulaire

  • The Homeric Hymn to Demeter (translated by Gregory Nagy or Susan Shelmerdine)

  • Greek Religion by Walter Burkert

Ala – Earth Goddess of Fertility and Harvest (Igbo, West Africa)

  • Encyclopedia of African Religion by Molefi Kete Asante

  • Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (contextual cultural references)

  • Oral tradition via the Nigerian Museum and Igbo cultural heritage archives

Selu – The Corn Mother (Cherokee Tradition)

  • Living Stories of the Cherokee, collected by Barbara R. Duncan

  • Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney (Smithsonian Institution)

  • Cherokee Preservation Foundation: Oral History Projects

The Moon Rabbit and the Mortar of Rice (East Asian Folklore)

  • The Moon Rabbit in Legend and Art, C. Scott Littleton

  • Shinto: The Kami Way by Sokyo Ono

  • Mid-Autumn Festival traditions across China, Japan, and Korea

Amaterasu and the Sealed Rice Fields (Japanese Shinto Mythology)

  • Kojiki (The Records of Ancient Matters), translated by Basil Hall Chamberlain

  • Myths and Legends of Japan by F. Hadland Davis

  • Japanese Mythology by Juliet Piggott

The Cailleach and the Last Sheaf (Scottish Gaelic Folklore)

  • Celtic Myths and Legends by Peter Berresford Ellis

  • The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane

  • School of Scottish Studies Archives (University of Edinburgh)

Joseph and the Seven Years of Plenty (Hebrew Bible / Old Testament)

  • Genesis 41–47, The Holy Bible (Hebrew Bible / Old Testament)

  • The Jewish Study Bible, Oxford University Press

  • The New Oxford Annotated Bible, NRSV with Apocrypha

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