AUTHOR R. ANN SIRACUSA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . It isn't the destination that matters -- It's the journey that counts!
Contact me!
  • HOME
  • BLOG
  • BOOKS
    • All For A Dead Man's Leg
    • All For A Fist Full Of Ashes
    • Destruction Of The Great Wall
    • All For Spilled Blood
    • First Date
    • Halloween In The Catacombs
    • All In The Game
    • Family Secrets: A Vengeance of Tears
  • ABOUT ME
    • Resume
  • PHOTO ALBUMS
  • RESOURCES
  • MY ORGANIZATONS
  • BLOGS ABOUT ANN
  • Blog

LA BEFANA - End Of The Holiday Season

1/6/2017

0 Comments

 
SANTA CLAUS IS COMING, HAS COME, IS GONE
The Holiday Shopping Season is finally over. I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted. But all is not lost. I've come up with a way to put off the shopping ordeal until after Christmas next year … as long as it's done before January 5.

When I lived in Rome in the 1960s, Santa Claus was almost non-existent. Babbo Natale (Father Christmas) had been visiting Italy since WWII—he wasn’t completely unknown—but Italian children didn’t leap out of bed at the crack of dawn Christmas day and run to see what Santa had brought them. Instead, in Italy, the day children received gifts was January 6, La Befana (The Epiphany).

The Befana is a big part of the Italian Christmas tradition and, like many holidays, mixes legend, tradition and a little religion. I don't know if Italian-Americans celebrate it in the US. We never did

LOOK! IT'S A BIRD, IT'S A PLANE, IT'S ... LA BEFANA?

[I'm dating myself; but if you're old enough, you know how the phrase really ends.]

Picture
The Befana is a good witch [a nice but ugly old woman with a long, hooked nose] who, on the night between January 5th and 6th [which is the eve of the Feast of the Epiphany] flies on a broomstick to visit all the children of Italy. She enters the houses through the chimneys and, from the sack she carries, she fills the children's stockings with sweets and small presents if they have been good or a lump of coal or dark candy if they have been bad.

Sounds a tad familiar, right?


Picture
Although she wears an old, long skirt filled with colorful patches and a black shawl, she is a good housekeeper and will sweep the floor of your house before she leaves to finish her rounds. The child's family typically leaves a small glass of wine and a plate with a few morsels of food, often regional or local, for the Befana.

In most regions of Italy, even adults give little presents to each other, and so do lovers, along with stockings full of chocolates.


Picture
THE EPIPHANY
According to Wikipedia, Epiphany "is a Christian feast day [January 6] that commemorates the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ." Epiphany is the 12th day of Christmas when the three Wise Men arrived at the manger bearing gifts for the Baby Jesus. Without going into the details, the celebration has been around since at least 380 AD.

It is celebrated on January 6 and officially ends the Christmas holiday. In Italy, everyone takes down the decorations on that day. There is an Italian saying that "The Epiphany takes away all festivity."

Don't get this wrong. Epiphany isn't like a stay-at-home holiday. It's a full blow festival with parades, re-enactments, special sweets, and crowds of people.

THE LEGEND OF THE BEFANA
Like everything else, there are a number of theories about origins of the "good witch" including the celebration of the Epiphany and the idea that she's an heir descendent of the Sabine/Roman goddess named Strina, who presided over the new-year's gifts of figs, dates, and honey. It's also suggested she's the Christian substitute for the old crone who read the augers at the pagan festival of Saturnalia.

"According to the legend, the night before the Wise Men arrived at the manger they stopped at the shack of an old woman to ask directions. They invited her to come along but she replied that she was too busy. Then a shepherd asked her to join him but again she refused.
Later that night, she saw a great light in the sky and decided to join the Wise Men and the shepherd bearing gifts that had belonged to her child who had died. She got lost and never found the manger.

Now La Befana flies around on her broomstick each year on the 11th night of Christmas, bringing gifts to children in hopes that she might find the Baby Jesus."

Although she has been unsuccessful in her search, she still leaves gifts for good young children because the Christ Child can be found in all children.  http://www.goitaly.about.com

Another variation of the Three Wise Men legend is the same up to the point where she has regrets about not going with the wise men.


"So she made lots of cakes and walked outside her home. She offered cakes to all the children she met on her way, hoping one of them were Jesus. Since then, Befana brings gifts to all the children." http://www.mybefana.it/

In another variation, found on Wikipedia, La Befana was an ordinary woman with a child she greatly loved. "However, her child died, and her resulting grief maddened her. Upon hearing news of Jesus being born, she set out to see him, delusional that he was her son. She eventually met Jesus and presented him with gifts to make him happy. The infant Jesus was delighted, and he gave La Befana a gift in return; she would be the mother of every child in Italy." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Befana

BITE THE BULLET
Now, go tell your children and/or grandchildren they have to wait until January 6th to open their presents. Oh, yeah. That's going to go well.

ANOTHER WAY TO CELEBRATE THE EPIPHANY
If you're running out of ideas for an Epiphany celebration, consider the Russian Orthodox version. In Russia, thousands of Russians plunge themselves into icy rivers and lakes to cleanse themselves of sins with water deemed holy. The overnight temperature there at this time of year often drops to about 14° F.
This makes waiting until January 6 for presents look not so bad.

HOWEVER YOU CELEBRATE IT, HAVE A WONDERFUL END OF THE  HOLIDAY SEASON!
□
Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphany_%28holiday%29
http://goitaly.about.com/od/festivalsandevents/a/epiphany.htm
https://seethesea.wikispaces.com/La+Befana%2C+an+Italian+tradition
http://www.historyandwomen.com/2009/12/legend-of-la-befana.html
http://www.italian-link.com/pages/labefana.shtml
https://tablebabel.wordpress.com/category/curiosity-from-the-world/
https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/italy/epiphany
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Befana
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author R. Ann Siracusa

    Novelist, retired architect and urban planner, world traveler, quilter, owl collector, devoted wife-mother-grandmother, great-grandmother, and, according to some, wild-assed liberal.

    Archives

    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    November 2015
    February 2015
    November 2014
    August 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013

    Categories

    All
    Africa
    Baboons
    Bagpipes
    Halloween
    Mopane-Mopani Worms
    Saint Patrick
    Samhain
    Shamrock
    Snakes
    Travel
    Veterans Day

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.