Hestia (called Vesta by the Romans) was the goddess of home and hearth. She was Zeus’s sister and a virgin goddess. There are not many stories on Hestia, as the goddess of the home was too sacred to be gossiped about, but there are ancient customs worshipping Hestia. One custom, which still exists today in some Greek villages, is to carry a newborn child around the home fire before receiving it into the family. Another was for a Greek city to establish a community hearth and fire with an eternal flame which was never allowed to go out, and when a new city or village was founded, smoldering coal was carried from the colonists’ old home to their new to start a fresh fire.