In Italian folklore, Befana is an old woman who delivers gifts to children throughout Italy on Epiphany Eve. She is usually portrayed as a hag riding a broomstick through the air wearing a black shawl and is covered in soot because she enters the children’s houses through the chimney. She leaves all the good children toys and candy or fruit, while the bad children get coal, onions or garlic.
About Befana in brief
In Italian folklore, Befana is an old woman who delivers gifts to children throughout Italy on Epiphany Eve. She is usually portrayed as a hag riding a broomstick through the air wearing a black shawl and is covered in soot because she enters the children’s houses through the chimney. She leaves all the good children toys and candy or fruit, while the bad children get coal, onions or garlic. A popular belief is that her name derives from the Feast of Epiphany. Epifania is a Latin word with Greek origins meaning’manifestation’ Some suggest that Befanna is descended from the SabineRoman goddess named Strenia. Others point to the name being a derivative of Bastrina, the goddess associated with gifts associated with Bastrina. In the book Domestic Life in Palestine, Mary E. Rogers notes: ‘Essay on the Fine Arts,’ by E. L. Tarbuck, led me to believe that this custom is a relic of pagan worship, and that the word ‘Bastrina’ refers to the goddess of gifts, and not the other way around.
On the eve of the Epiphany, Bebana comes to every house where there is a child and leaves a gift. Although she has been unsuccessful in her search, she still leaves gifts for good children because the Christ Child can be found in all children. In many poorer parts of Italy and in particular rural Sicily, a stick in a stocking was placed instead of coal. Being a good housekeeper, many say she will sweep the floor before she leaves. To some the sweeping meant the sweeping away of the problems of the year. 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 this telling, Bbefana is still searching after all these centuries for the new born messiah.
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This page is based on the article Befana published in Wikipedia (as of Jan. 11, 2021) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
