Time was when Italian children had to wait until this morning for their Christmas presents. Unlike most of the rest of Europe, Santa didn’t make overnight deliveries to Italy on Christmas Eve and it was not until the eve of Epiphany on 6 January that Italian children’s presents arrived. The delivery was not made by a jovial, rotund bearded man, but by a haggard old witch on a broomstick — and the children were lucky that she was no longer too busy with her housework.
Epiphany is officially the day on which the three Magi arrived to pay homage to the baby Jesus. It is said that on their way they passed the house of La Befana, a good witch, and asked her to join them in their search. But she refused, saying that she was too busy tidying the house.
Later she regretted her decision and decided to search for Christ herself, but she couldn’t find him. So to this day she’s still searching, zapping around on her broomstick, dropping off sweets and presents to all the children whose homes she passes. (If they have been good: the bad ones get a piece of coal.)
That’s the tradition, and although these days most Italian children are more likely to receive their presents on Christmas Day itself, in some areas they still hang up their calze della befana, even though they may already have had earlier presents from babbo natale. You can see why La Befana is a much-loved woman.
The arrival of the Magi at Epiphany has inspired Italian artists and none more so than Benozzo Gozzoli, whose masterpiece Journey of the Magi can be seen in the chapel of the old Medici palagio in Florence. In Gozzoli’s picture you can also have fun spotting famous Renaissance faces in the procession, Cosimo the Elder and Lorenzo the Magnificent among them.
Even though you’ve probably had your gifts from St. Nicolas, why not give yourself a befana present, too? Treat yourself to a week-long creative course of the Watermill. That will be an Epiphany in itself!
More details of all our world-renowned courses can be found by clicking here.