La Befana
Who is La Befana?
La Befana translates to “the witch”. She is described as a tiny elderly woman with a long nose and a crescent moon chin, known for traveling on a flying broomstick. In Italian tradition, she’s known as ‘The Christmas Witch’. According to Italian folklore La Befana flies around on her broomstick once a year on the eve of the great feast Epiphany. Similar to Santa Claus she comes down the chimneys to bring children gifts.
What is Epiphany?
The Feast of the Epiphany is linked through the Christian tale of the Three Wise Men but, like many celebrations, it is said to have originated from Pagan traditions that correlates her arrival with the winter solstice. It is celebrated 12 days after Christmas on January 6th. The 12 days represents the journey it took the Three Wise Men to travel to Bethlehem to find Baby Jesus. On the eve of this holiday children anticipate the arrival of their beloved witch called Befana.
The Legend
The first story I came across says the Three Magi or Wise Men who went to welcome Jesus with gifts after his birth. During their journey they were lost and stopped to get their barrings. That is when they met Befana. They asked her where they might find the Son of God but she didn’t know. She gave them shelter for the night. The men wished for Befana to join them on their journey but was unable to due to unfinished housework. The next day Befana completed her household chores and tried to catch up with the men on her broomstick. When she wasn’t able to find them, she began to visit each home she flew past to leave gifts for the children in hopes one of the would be the prophet the wise men described.
Another version of Befana’s story goes back to the days of the Roman King Herod. Herod was afraid of the young prophet, Jesus, who was said to one day become King. An order was given to slay all the male babies in the country. Befana’s son was one of those babies massacured by order of the King. Stricken with grief Befana could not come to terms with the loss of her son. She gathered her son’s belongings and went to every home in her village looking for him. Befana searched far and wide until one day came upon a child she thought could be hers. She placed belongings and gifts near the baby. The baby’s father looked at Befana as her face sudden'ly changed from a young lady to an elderly women with grey hair. According to this legend the baby she had found was Jesus. To repay her for her generosity she was given the ability to visit every child in the world for a night as if they were her own. Befana would bring each child a gift. That is how the gift giving witch came to be.
