Živa, also Šiva, Siva, Siwa, Żiwia, Sieba or Razivia, was the Slavic goddess of love and fertility. She was worshipped throughout what is now Poland, the Czech Republic,Slovakia, Slovenia, and Germany (and especially the Elbe (Labe) river valley), before Christianity expanded into the area. Her name means “living, being, existing”. Sieba’s consort was Siebog, her male equivalent.
She was said to have a temple on Mount Zywiec, and people would go to the temple to pray for good health and long life. Some traditions have it that she turned herself into a cuckoo bird.
(Source: slavicmythology)
nypl:
On March 8, 1877, in the Church of St. Francis Xavier on 16th Street, “the shriek of an hysterical woman in one of the galleries, and a heedless cry of fire which followed it, created a panic.” (NYT, 3/8/1877) Seven people were killed in the ensuing chaos. This newspaper clipping from our Picture Collection attempts to illustrate the scene in an era before news photography.
