La Befana Strikes Again!
On the eve of the Epiphany, La Befana rides from house to house on her broomstick, leaving presents for Italian girls and boys.
In just three days, Christmas will quickly come and go, but in Italy, there’s another, perhaps bigger, gift-and-celebration-filled holiday right around the corner: the Feast of the Epiphany. On January 6, this national holiday commemorates the 12th day of Christmas, when the three Wise Men arrived at Baby Jesus’s manger, and marks the end of the modern-day Christmas season.
The night before, La Befana, an old witch, rides around on her broom, going from house to house to leave presents and candy for good children and coal for bad children. According to legend, the Wise Men asked her for directions during their journey to Bethlehem, but she was too busy with housework to help or join them. After the Wise Men continued on their way, she had a change of heart and went out searching for them to no avail. Every year since, on that same night, La Befana hops on her broom and fills children’s stockings with gifts in the hopes that she’ll finally find Baby Jesus.
Around January 6th, keep an eye out for La Befana celebrations, including a huge one in the Le Marche region and a regatta along Venice’s Grand Canal, plus living nativity scenes and Epiphany processions all around the country.
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