Il Pesce di Natale

The Almond has this connection with the Virgin, that it has long been considered to bear fruit without previous fecundation. This ancient belief, still held by Salentine peasants, is mentioned in a discussion of the XXI^ème Arcane majeur du Tarot de Marseille – the card representing the World, in which the central figure is enclosed in an almond-shaped vesica of laurel leaves. (See Ve