Show THURSDAY and Friday Fliday nights of this week the talked of II Eleusinia and the exhibition of educational gymnastics gymnastics gymnastics gym gym- will be presented at the Salt Lake Theatre The one hundred and fifty young people to take part have been working hard for the past ten days dayson ays ayson on scenic effects and ar are are now prepared to give this revival of the Greek Carnival Carnival Carnival Carni Carni- val all its spectacular dazzle and dor Both Miss Babcock's private classes and the Athletic Association classes take part but the net proceeds go to the Athletic Association An exhibition football contest will be a feature of the second nights night's perform perform- ance That our readers may have some idea of the graceful devotee dances gladiatorial drills and kaleidoscopic grandeur of the II II we give here a synopsis of the myth upon which the festival was founded Demeter the myth tells us a daughter daugh daugh- ter of Kronos and Rhea was the goddess goddess goddess god god- dess of the earth in its capacity of bringing forth countless fruits the all- all nourishing mother and above all the divine being who watched over the growth of grain and the various products products products pro pro- ducts of vegetation most important to man Persephone also called Kora by bythe bythe bythe the Greeks and or Libera by the Romans was the daughter of Demeter and Zeus Struck by the charms of the beautiful Persephone Hades by the sanction of Zeus carried off the virgin goddess He suddenly arose the myth states from a dark hole in the earth near where Persephone was gathering narcissus narcissus narcissus nar nar- not f far r from yEtna in Sicily and made off wi with th her to the under underworld underworld underworld world in a chariot drawn by four swift horses In vain Demeter searched for her daughter traversing every land until she learned what had taken place from fromi i the seeing all-seeing hearing all-hearing god of the sun She then entreated the gods to give her daughter back which was t. t granted provided pro Persephone should not yet have tasted anything in the under world Before Hermes Herme who had been sent by Zeus to bring back Persephone reached the under world Persephone had eaten half the pomegranate which Hades had given her as an expression of love She could not therefore return to the upper world but must remain the wife of Hades She was however allowed to stay with her mother half the year among the gods of Olympus while the other half was to be spent with her husband below During Demeter's search she was the most kindly received in not far from Athens and as a reward for their hospitality she built her temple there and instructed the inhabitants in the mysteries teaching the King the art of agriculture It Itis Itis Itis is stated that before departing she presented presented presented pre pre- her snake-drawn snake car and the seed of the barley that he might travel through all lands teaching mankind how to sow and to utilize the grain Two festivals were held at each year to Demeter Persephone and Dionysus god of the vine called the The lesser festival of fruit and flowers was held in the spring the greater of the harvest was held in Sep Sep- Immense concourses of people took part in the festival and it was of national importance but few were admitted admitted admitted ad ad- to the temple and the mysteries The persons in the final stages of initiation initiation initiation ini ini- were called and those of the earlier stages were designated The first grand thought in the worship worship wor wor- shi ship p of Demeter was the mysterious evolution of life out of the seed which is cast into the ground and suffered to decay a process of nature which St. St Paul and St. St John compare to the attainment attainment attainment at at- of a new life through Christ The seed left to decay in the ground was in the keeping of Persephone Persephone Persephone Perse Perse- phone the goddess of the lower world the new life which sprang from it was the gift of Demeter and hence they were one and inseparable and were regarded regarded regarded re re- as II two two in one or II the the great deities In the myth Persephone daughter of Zeus the god of the heavens which by their warmth and rain produce fertility and of Demeter the natural goddess of the fertile earth we see she was conceived conceived conceived con con- as the divine personification of the process of vegetation vegetation vegetation-in in the summer summer summer sum sum- mer appearing beside her mother in the light of the upper world but in autumn disappearing and in winter passing her time like the seed under the earth with the god of the lower lower world u |