Befana
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.
In the book Domestic Life in Palestine, by Mary E. Rogers (Poe & Hitchcock, 1865) the author notes: But an '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 offerings which used to be made to the goddess Strenia.
in Cortina d'Ampezzo and the Berola in the province of Treviso, the Vecie [Old Woman] or the Strie [Witch] or the Femenate or the Marangule in Friuli.
[11] Both of these latter names are derived from the Italian word for Easter Pasqua borrowed straight from the Hebrew Pesach.
Her origins are the subject of speculation by scholars who have variously proposed they lie in paganism, Christianity, or a mix of the two.
John B. Smith said she, like her High German counterpart Perchta, is nothing more than the personification of Epiphany invented by medieval Christians who had a tendency to personify feast and fast days[12] while Jacob Grimm found it not credible that two separate cultures would personify a feast day as a supernatural figure ("a name in the calendar had caused the invention of a supernatural being") and concluded it was far more likely that the Befana and Perchta were pre-Christian in origin and that they blended with the Christian holiday name.
"[5] Generally the pre-Christian origin is the one most proposed and the Befana is often said to be a goddess or the remnant of one, though what culture and time period she comes from has been less uniform.
[13] Siporin noted her contradictory character and summed it up thus: "She is grandmotherly but witchlike, the target of endless mockery but deeply beloved, ridiculous and dignified, domestic yet a wanderer, weak and dependent yet feared and powerful.
"[15] Christian legend had it that the Befana was approached by the Biblical Magi, also known as the Three Wise Men or the Three Kings, a few days before the birth of the Baby Jesus.
The Magi invited her to join them on the journey to find the Baby Jesus, but she declined, stating she was too busy with her housework.
Feeling guilty, she eventually decides to find Jesus on her own by following a bright light, also known as the big star in the sky which she believes points the way.
[17] In folk tradition, various figures are related to her, comprising a family, and are present in the befanotti, though the exact characters involved vary in time and place.
[25] Alternatively, these threats were not to be taken seriously, akin to teasing and pranks that are part of the fun and festivities of the Befanata rather than actual intimidation.
[26] Fitting this atmosphere, the skits performed by the befanotti are suggestive and carnivalesque[9] and Epiphany is the start of the Carnival season.
It is absent from Sicily where in the past wealthy landowners directly distributed food to the poor in a way that "was humiliating to the recipients",[33] thus negating the need for the Befanata and other, similar begging or exchange rituals.
[13] On Twelfth Night in Rome, these dolls are placed in windows[35] by women and children[13] and on Epiphany,[36] "in some Tuscan villages a large effigy of her [the Befana] was burnt.
On Epiphany eve, families with children typically leave out a small glass of wine and a plate with a few morsels of food, often regional or local, for the Befana.
[3] In 1977, the Italian government, headed at that time by Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, canceled Epiphany as a national public holiday, along with several other feasts in the schedule, in an attempt to perk up the country’s sagging economy.
[14] "Poor Befana, she is a refugee," Pope Paul VI lamented in a public speech, "She seeks shelter now on the first Sunday after the feast which was her own.
In particular, her resemblance to the female German figures of Holle and Perchta is often noted by scholars, even if just in passing, and the Befana is considered their Italian equivalent.
The tradition of Befana appears to incorporate several pre-Christian popular elements, adapted to Christian culture and related to the celebration of the New Year.
Jacob Grimm simply called her a "misshapen fairy" despite drawing parallels between her and Perchta, the latter of whom he considered to be a former heathen goddess.
"[35] Cattabiani reports that she has been interpreted as "an image of Mother Nature" and the old dying year who sows the seeds, even if just symbolically, for her reappearance "in the guise of young Nature", alluding to a goddess with power over plants, animals, abundance, prosperity, life, and death.
[note 10] Italian anthropologists Claudia and Luigi Manciocco, in their book Una casa senza porte ("A House without Doors") trace the Befana's origins back to Neolithic beliefs and practices.
The Befana may be connected to a prehistoric European bear cult that was practiced among hunter-gatherers and which dates as far back as the Upper Paleolithic.
In the book Vestiges of Ancient Manners and Customs, Discoverable in Modern Italy and Sicily (1823), John J.
Blunt says: This Befana appears to be heir at law of a certain heathen goddess called Strenia, who presided over the new-year's gifts, 'Strenae', from which, indeed, she derived her name.
[44] Traditionally, all Italian children may expect to find a lump of "coal" in their stockings (actually rock candy made black with food coloring) as every child has been at least occasionally bad during the year.
In Toronto, Canada for example, a Befana Choir shows up on the winter solstice each December to sing in the Kensington Market Festival of Lights parade.
Women, men, and children dressed in Befana costumes and nose sing love songs to serenade the sun to beckon its return.
