Sheva

In the mythology of the Komi peoples, the embodiment of corruption in the form of various animals and objects (lizard, beetle, mouse, bird, worm, larva, hair, knot of thread and even a little man who has a name, he can speak and answers questions during divination). The name comes from the Proto-German 'š öṷu' "something with a voice, sound, message".

Komi-Zyryan has 'shy' — "sound", 'shyavny' — "to sound, make sounds, speak, give voice." Because Sheva's ability is to utter piercing, loud sounds that foreshadow the future through the person she has mastered. In the Izhmo-Pechora Region, sheva is called "lishinka", in Udora — "hiccup".

Those who are possessed by Sheva begin to involuntarily make the sound "eya". The owners of the Sheva were considered to be a special kind of sorcerers, who were mostly evil, who received it with initiation into the dark arts, or made it themselves from crumbled needles from a stove broom, from cherry cores thrown out during the manufacture of vines, from ashes, from litter, etc. It often happened that a sorcerer distributing sheva to some people treated others at the same time.

If Sheva had just moved into the body, the person would start hiccupping. In this case, they tried to scare her. If she was not kicked out, then she moved around the human body at will. For example, when Sheva was thrown in the head, it was believed that there was a headache.