An icy branch
Originally uploaded by cce_photography.

It’s slightly artificial Winter, but it’s Winter all the same! The morning after the Yule bonfire we found beautifully iced trees. Water sprinklers had been setup (and moved around) to keep the brush and scrubs damp to lessen the chance of additional, accidental fire. The ice storm effect was simply a bonus. Today it was 70° F out side. It is still January, right? This weather is absurd. I’m wearing wool socks as a protest.

Speaking of socks, was la Befana good to you this year?

Epiphany morning is the last hurrah for the holiday season for Italian children. Since the Middle Ages children have eagerly anticipated la Befana’s goodies. Epiphany also happens to be the 12th day of Christmas when everyone shows up at the stable to say ‘hi’ to Jesus-in-the-manager.

Who is la Befana? Well, that depends on whom you ask! I was introduced to la Befana when I lived in Italy. She’s a witch that travels around the night before Epiphany (aka the eve of January 6th) and fills children’s socks with toys and candy. She leaves coal for the bad kids of course. She comes down the chimney, just like another stocking stuffer we know, and families leave treats out for her to snack on as well. Okay, she’s not exactly a witch but she does ride a broomstick, has a big nose with an ugly mole on it and wears a lot of black. She might even sweep the floor on her way out because she’s just that flavor of OCD. And children might see a hand print left by la Befana if they look carefully at the ashes in the fireplace.

According to legend, la Befana provided the Wise Men a place to stay during their trip to find Jesus-in-the-manger. She couldn’t actually provide them directions but she did put them up in a fabulously neat house. (Alright, according to some versions of her story she actually thought they were so silly she provided them the wrong directions!) Being kind gentlemen, they asked her if she’d like to come with them. La Befana declined saying she had too much housework to do. Realizing her mistake later, la Befana set out after the Wise Men. She didn’t actually catch up to them nor did she find Jesus-in-the-manger. She wanders and seeks them still, leaving good children treats in their socks because you never know which might turn out to be Jesus-in-the-manger!

Important detail: Children hang out both socks for la Befana, not just one.

One reason la Befana is cooler than Santa: The Italians leave her a bit of wine and bread or cake instead of cookies and milk. Of course, this may be why she doesn’t make transatlantic flights to fill socks here in North America.

Other origins of la Befana: And don’t tell the Catholics, but this traditional is also likely derived from pre-christian rites around the beginning of the new year. An old woman, symbolic of the old year, bestows gifts upon the children for the new year - nah, that doesn’t sound pagan at all. In European folklore the 12 days between Christmas and Epiphany are a period during which magic, witches and the other-worldly are more real. In the pre-christian calendar, this was the period at the changing of the year when the old year (often represented by a wicker old lady doll) was burned and the new year was welcomed in.

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