Today,
January 6th is La Festa della Befana.
All children in Italy will be singing the nursery rhymes about Befana –
La Befana vien di notte
Con le scarpe tutte rotte
Col vestito alla romana
Viva, Viva La Befana!
The English translation is:
The Befana comes by night
With her shoes all tattered and torn
She comes dressed in the Roman way
Long life to the Befana!
It is
basically the date on which the 3 wise men finally arrived at the stable in
Bethlehem to offer Jesus gifts of gold, incense and myrrh. In Italy, according
to Christian tradition, we celebrate an holiday called Epiphany, Epifania in Italian.
It is an extremely
important part of the Christmas festivities, and Epiphany, Epifania o Festa
della Befana, is a public Holiday so government
offices, post offices, banks, schools and other educational institutions are
closed.
Epiphany
is just as important as Christmas itself and is a big day for celebrating and
exchanging presents. But to bring the presents it is not Santa Claus (Babbo Natale), but a witch called Befana, or in Venice “Marantega”,
who flies on a broomstick. She is also often covered in soot, as just like Santa Claus,
she delivers presents through the chimney. It is also believed that she also sweeps the floor before she
leaves as a way of sweeping away last year’s problems.
So just
who is the Befana?
Legend has it that the three kings stopped to
ask the Befana for directions to Bethlehem, but she didn’t know it. But she offered
to put them up for the night. The next day the wise
men invited the Befana to travel with them, but she said she had too much
housework to do, and did not go with them.
But the Befana could not stop thinking about
the invitation and eventually decided to follow the kings to find Jesus. She
carried a sack filled with bread. Whenever she saw a child, she was giving him
a piece of bread hoping he might be the Christ child.
Sadly, though, Befana never managed to catch up
with the wise men and never found the stable in Bethlehem. So she is still
wandering through Italy on her broomstick looking for the baby and leaving
goodies for children.
There is also a second legend that states that the Befana could
originate from the Sabine or Roman goddess named Strina, as Romans used to give
presents of sweets to celebrate the new year. Her name means “gift-bringer”.
Just
like at Christmas, children leave stockings out on the evening of 5th January hoping that the Befana will leave
presents and sweets. They also often leave the witch a snack of something soft to
eat, as she has hardly any teeth!
But if children haven’t been good they risk
just being left a lump of coal or a stick. Nowadays days the coal is a rock
candy called “carbone” made from caramel,
which I always found very delicious.
Parents still use the threat of the Befana to
ensure good behavior for the kids. The saying “Lo dico alla Befana!” (I’ll
tell to the Befana), or the terrifying “Viene la Befana e ti porta via!” (the
Befana will come and take you away)!! Its
enough to scare even the naughtiest child as the Befana is well-known to have a
terrible husband who likes to devour children!! Always got me as a child…
Apart from presents, festivities take various
forms around Italy. In my region, the Veneto, we lit wood bonfires or roghi or foghere, on
the night of the 5th January to tell the future from the
direction of the smoke.
The highlight in Venice,
however, is definitely the Regata delle Befane,
the regatta of the witches, that takes place at 11am on the Grand Canal. It’s a
very fun regatta. Retired gondoliers and Bucintoro rowing
club members dressed as old Befana’s or vecie maranteghe in the Venetian
dialect and race between San Tomá and the Rialto Bridge where a large stocking
is hung from the parapet.
A band plays at the feet of Rialto bridge
throughout the morning.
Hot chocolate, vin brulé (warm sweet wine, and sweet biscuits are handed
out to the crowds of spectators by the Pink Lionesses rowing club as they wait
for the Befane to arrive.
Around
town, patisseries also sell fried doughnuts with dried fruit in and mammaluchi /fritters with raisins as a traditional
treat for locals to eat along with their hot chocolate.
And as with all the Venetian regattas, the winners are awarded
silk pennants.
Stockings filled with sweets are also handed
out for free to children at the Fish Market near the Rialto Bridge. Kids can
have their photos taken with the Befana and everyone can have a hot chocolate,
hot wine, chunk of pandoro cake or handful of peanuts for a donation to the
Rialto Association.
Its also worth taking a walk over to St Mark’s square
on this day, where there is a special
procession of an angel and the wise men above the clock on the Torre
dell’Orologio in tribute to the Madonna and child. The wise men process every
hour, on the hour but can only be seen on Epiphany and in May for the Ascension
so don’t miss them if you are in my hometown.
(The statues are often on display inside for
visitors to the clock tower but only process twice a year).
Other cities have different traditions. If you
are in Florence they have a large parades headed by the 3 wise men on
horseback - La Cavalcata dei Magi.
Rome has a large market in Piazza Navona where toys, sugar
charcoal and other candies are on sale.
And in Urbania, believed to be Befana’s official hometown, some
30,000-50,000 people attend the festivities to watch as hundreds of Befanas fly
down from the main tower.
So Happy Befana.
And he is to a New Year great year.
Giada
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