Zisa, A Swabian Goddess
By Sean Jobst 2nd October 2019 Augsburg. Nestled in the Bavarian part of our cultural region of Schwaben, this is one of the main centers of Swabian heritage and history. A city I want to visit for its historic social housing concept called the Fuggerei , among other sites. This was also the city where my Oma's uncle, Ludwig Schneider, moved to from our ancestral town of Baldern in the Ostalbkreis, so that family memories intertwined with Augsburg. Now as a Pagan who has been studying our ancient traditions, I have come across a goddess closely associated with Augsburg: Zisa. She is associated with this time of year, her feast day being 28th September, and thus reconstructionist Swabian Pagans could consecrate that day as Zisastag. Although some have denied such a goddess was even revered (Simek, 52; Kohl, 21-39), other scholars have attested to her from surviving medieval texts and folk traditions. She has harvest and fertility connotations, and is also known as consort of...