Sithsekur, in Norse mythology, the long beard, was a surname of Odin.
Sit'nah (lUh. Sitnah' ,1i.yS-q ; Sept. tx^'P'a ; Jose- phus, Sirei'i'a, Ant. i, 18, 2-, Vulg. Iniinicitiie), the sec- ond of the two wells dug by Isaac in the valley of Gerar, and the possession of which the herdmen of the valley disputed with him (Gen. xxvi, 21). Like the first one, Esek, it received its name from the disputes which took place over it, Sitnah meaning, as is stated in the margin, " hatred," or more accurately " accusa- tion," but the play of expression has not been in this instance preserved in the Hebrew. The Sept., how- ever, has attempted it — tKph'ovro . . . i\Srp{a. The root of the name is the same as that of Satan, and this has been taken advantage of by Aquila and Symma- chus, who render it respectively avTiKuyLtvi) and ivav- TttijoiQ. — Smith. See Isaac.
Sito, an appellative of Ceres in Grecian mythology, particularly prevalent in Syracuse.
Sitraiigaden, in Hindfi mythology, was a son of Santanen and Satiawedi, who suspected his mother of criminal intercourse with her step-son, but, on the man- ifestation of her innocence and virtue, atoned for his suspicion by causing himself to be burned to death in a hollow tree. — VoUmer, Wurterh. d. Mythol. s. v.
Sitsi Siki, the eveninc) festival, is celebrated in Ja- pan on the seventh day of the seventh month.
Sitting (prop, iizi"^, yashdb, KoBeZoiiai). This is the favorite posture of Orientals. In the absence of chairs, it becomes a necessity to sit upon the floor with the feet crossed under one. " In Palestine people sit at all kinds of work. The carpenter saws, planes, and hews with his hand-adze sitting upon the ground or upon the plank he is planing. The washerwoman sits by the tub ; and, in a word, no one stands where it is possible to sit. Shopkeepers always sit, and Levi sit- ting at the receipt of custom (Matt, ix, 9) is the exact way to state the case" (Thomson, Land and Book, i, 191). "No Moslem will move when he can stand, or stand when he can sit. We observed three men in a farrier's shop devoting their combined energies to the shoeing of a little mule. One sat under the mule's nose, and held it down with a halter; another sat with its foot turned up in his lap ; and a third sat alongside while he fitted and nailed the shoe. Even the masons must sit on their haunches, and fill their panniers with lime ; and a little farther on, where some new pave- ment was in progress, all the paviors sat at their work, from the boys lolling on their hams, who passed the stones from the heap, to the two men who sat vis-a-vis with a great mallet between them, and in that posture lazily poised and let it fall. But the acme of the art of sitting seemed to have been reached by a parly of reapers in a wheat-field through which we rode. All in a long row, men and women, sat to reap, and jerked themselves forwards or sideways as their work pro- gressed" (Tristram, Land of Israel, p. 616). See At- TiTunE; Bed; Eatincj.
SITTING, as a posture of Christian adoration, never had (according to Bingham) any allowance in the prac- tice of the ancient Church, being considered by them as very irreverent. Neither did they ever receive sit- ting the sacrament of the Lord's supper, but always
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kneeling or standing. It was quite a general custom in the early Church for tlie people to stand while lis- tening to tlie sermon. This custom was most observed in Africa. France, and some of the (ireek cliurches, while in the churches of Italy the contrary custom prevailed. This posture is allowed in the Church of England at the reading of the lessons in the morning and evening prayer, and also of the first lesson or eiHstle in the com- munion service, hut at no other time except during the sermon. Some of our Protestant denominations use sitting as the posture of prayer, and of receiving the Lord's supper. Some Arians in Poland have done this for the avowed reason of showing that they do not be- lieve Christ to be (iod, but only their fellow-creature. See Bingham, Chtuf. Antiq. ; Hook, Church Diet. s. v.
Siva, in Hindu mythology, is the third member of the Hindu trinity, the terrible destroyer. According to the doctrine of the Sivaitcs, he is, next to Urahm, the highest god. to whom Urahma and Vishnu are sub- ordinate; but the worshippers of Vishnu and Brahma rank Siva lower than either of these deities. He is commoidy represented as riding on the ox Nundi (the symbol of wisdom), and holding his beautiful consort Parvati on his lap. Painters and sculptors have sought to introduce into iiis countenance every imaginable re- pulsive element, and he is regard- ed as cruel and blood-thirsty, so as to require the most terrible sac- rifices; but he is nevertheless filled with tenderest love towards his wife, and has es- tablished her in one half of his own body, to the end that she need never be sepa- rated from him. He is, according- ly, the god who presides over the generation of all