La Befana in Italy

Italy is home to many wonderful and exciting celebrations throughout the year, but a lesser known one involving La Befana, is one of my personal favorites and one I was lucky enough to experience. This tradition on January 6th marks both the end of Christmas and the day the magi reached Jesus to bring him gifts in Christian beliefs.

La Befana in Treviso

La Befana is actually a person who takes the form of an old woman who is ragged and poor, with a broom and warts, much as an American Halloween witch. Put simply, she arrives to visit the families on January 6th every year bringing candy for the good children and coal for the bad while the household is asleep. However, this tradition stemming from the 13th century comes from an old legend.

According to the story, when Christ was born, the three Magi came to visit the baby and bring their gifts of frankincense, gold, and myrrh. They stopped at the house of an elderly woman and they passed the word onto her and asked for her to join, but she politely declined, saying that she had much work to do around her house.

My gifts from La Befana

However, after some time, she felt as though she hadn’t made the best decision and decided to follow the same star the magi were and set off on foot. Along the way, she left candy in socks on the doorsteps of children, hoping to find the baby Jesus. Now, with the combined ideas of this legend and Santa (who is a much more modern tradition), she will deliver coal to the poorly behave children as well. There is also a forewarning from parents that if you attempt to see La Befana in the night, she will whack you with her broom.

Just like with Santa in the United States, during this time of year, you will see many La Befanas walking around so you can take pictures with them, like the one in the photo above. Some are on stilts, some have warts, some are scary, and some have pointed hats, but all of them are super unique and awesome!

Later in the night after she has brought the candy, there are more celebrations. In fact, in some places La Befana is burned (a fake of course), at a huge bonfire and the whole town celebrates. Supposedly, if the ashes go up it will be a good harvest and a poor one if they go down.

The Lorregia fire

Flames from where the witch was

Fireworks

Of course not every town has traditions like this, some are bigger and smaller, but if you want to stay away from the main tourist season but still celebrate some northern Italian holidays, I would totally suggest seeing La Befana!