Which witch?

I hope everyone had a happy holiday season.  But, alas, all good things must come to an end, so we’re heading back to work.

Actually though, here in Italy, some people are still on vacation – until the 7th that is.  That’s because tomorrow, Epiphany, is a holiday here.  The day when the three wise men arrived to pay homage and give gifts to the baby Jesus is also the day when Italian children wake up to find gifts in their stockings.  But, these gifts aren’t left by Santa Claus.

When I first came here I was wondering why there were witches displayed at Christmas time.  I thought that maybe they were left over from Halloween.  After all, to us Americans, that’s the natural holiday to associate with witches.  But, these weren’t just any old witch, these were “La Befana”.

One version of the story goes that when the three wise men were looking for the Christ child they got lost and stopped at a house to ask directions.  The door was opened by an old woman with a broom who didn’t know about the Christ child and couldn’t give them directions.  They asked her if she wanted to go with them, but she refused saying she had too much housework to do.  Afterwards, she changed her mind and went off to find them.  Failing to do so, she gave gifts to all of the little children hoping that they were the baby Jesus.  Now, every year she sets off on her broom to search for him again on the eve of the Epiphany (January 5th), leaving gifts for the good children and coal for the naughty ones.  You can read more versions of the story here.

So, don’t forget to hang your stocking out again tonight.  Hopefully you’ll find a gift tomorrow morning and not a lump of coal.

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