"Witch Valentine's Day -
'  Sellin' Little Bottles of Love Potion Number Nine"
Looking for love? Some scan the personals, surf the web or carouse the single bars and if that fails the witches of Romania suggest the old fashion way -  Sanziene (June 24) - the day when the Fairy Godmother in the sky plays cupid.

   In many countries witches are only a fairy tale, but in Romania magic and superstitions remain a strong part of the culture. Witches can be called upon for a variety of purposes; from finding lost objects and taking off or putting on curses to curing illness, alcoholism, even impotency - and with school year coming to an end more and more students have been calling on their local witch to help with their exams.
At the stroke of midnight on the day of Sanziene the Fairy Godmother, who the witches say appears as a young girl dressed in flowers, flies about the night sky.  Witches, all across the nation, gather around fires along the riverbank at this hour calling upon the good fairy to bring love to their desperate clients.
Under watchful eye of television reporters and their cameras the Queen Witch Maria Campina and her six daughters begins the evening ritual inside the Queen�s narcissist workshop surrounded by images of herself inside large than life gold framed image including a seven foot statue she claims was a girt from a Princess she cured of an illness some years back.
Queen Maria is said to be Romania�s most famous and wealthy white witch and even has the golden scepter, crown and matching slippers to prove it.  After 63 years of casting spells she claims to have offered advice to the Romanian President and even took a visit from Elena Ceausescu though witchcraft was strictly forbidden during the communist years.
The second phase of the ceremony begins outdoors around a blazing fire.  The six sisters dance and chant around a smoking cauldron while adding a total of 99 secret ingredients that will form a love potion. Later they will give cups of this mixture to their clients to drink. They are an animated bunch dressed in an assortment of colored gowns and long scarves, necklaces dangling golden coins. 

Witch Sultana shrieks while shattering bottles into the rocks symbolizing breaking off bad curses.  The Queen�s grandchildren watching along the fringes giggle.  Though not yet teenagers they claim to already possess the power. Queen Maria explains that witchcraft is not learned but in the blood and that she was eleven years old when she first began casting spells.

Following the making of the potion the Queen, holding up a golden scepter in one hand and flashlight in the other leads, a candlelit procession down a winding dirt path towards the riverbank. Along the water�s edge they set sail Styrofoam floats illuminated with candles and the names of their clients that have been cursed with bad luck. 

According to the Queen the major cause of a dysfunctional love-life is usually a curse; usually put on by a scorned lover. �An unmarried man over 30 is a sure sign he has been cursed,� says the Queen.  By reading the cards, what she calls �a book�, she can find the curse and see just how strong it is. And if a curse does exist - not all is lost because for a little under $100 you can be cleaned.

Queen Maria takes the microphone and before the cameras she predicts a bloody event in the near future - �but it will not happen on Romanian soil,� she claim.  �Even though evil surrounds us Romania will be spared because we have the power of the witches�
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