There is neither heaven nor earth
only snow, falling incessantly. – Hashin
You may be wondering why I’m featuring this lovely picture of a beautiful witch on this particular day. Well, since this is Christmas Eve in Russia, you might think of her as the Frost Maiden, granddaughter to Ded Moroz (the Slavic Santa Claus). And since today is also Epiphany, when children in many Catholic countries receive their presents, you might think of her as Befana, the witch who performs that function in Italy. Befana is traditionally depicted as an old lady, but since Italy is Italy sexy Befana images are now quite common there; besides, if I were an immortal witch with magical powers you can bet I wouldn’t go around looking like a hag. Befana is a Christianized version of the minor Roman goddess Strenia, who was herself associated with the Greek witch-goddess Hecate. So as you can see, a sexy witch image is totally appropriate for this first day of the carnival season…and besides, it’s my blog and I’ll use just about any excuse I can think of to post a picture of a beautiful fantasy chick.
