Old Befana
We can let go of our notions of what it takes to be good enough to share our gifts with each other.
You’re probably right in the middle of new year’s resolutions, aren’t you? Well, not so fast, Italians are not yet done celebrating the long Christmas holiday (and break.) There’s an interesting tradition coming up January 6—la Befana.
Befana comes from the Greek ‘Epiphany,’ which means ‘apparition’ or ‘manifestation.’ And we could all use some epiphany to set the tone and navigate 2024.
A closer reading of the folktale can help us let go of our notions of what is ‘good enough’ to share our gifts with each other.
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Part of Italian tradition since the XIII century, children celebrate la Befana each January 6. The tale comes from Christian legend rather than popular culture, but it’s the culture that keeps the tradition alive with twists through the ages.
Old Befana is a folktale filled with hope and symbolism.
La Befana is a poor, old woman who is a bit of a hermit. She’s always sweeping her house, perhaps in search of the perfect clean. So people steer a bit clear of her, and she’s too wrapped in her own sweeping agenda to notice.
Old Befana represents those who are ignored, marginalized, and written off as ‘cranky.’ The notion that her home is never clean enough pushes her to sweep constantly.
One night, a bright star appears in the sky, a star so bright that she can’t sleep. The next day, while she’s sweeping, a grand procession comes through her town. She learns they are on their way to see the Baby King in Bethlehem and bring Him gifts.
She’s become so used to being left out, that when a brilliant star shines into her darkness, she doesn’t know what to make of it; she does her best to shut it out so that it doesn’t interrupt what she believes she is supposed to do.
As the Three Kings make their way to Bethlehem, they pass through her village. They invite her to join them, to make the journey to see the Christ Child, but she refuses. She is too busy; she needs to sweep. She lets the procession go on its way.
And even when the procession of Holiness is presented to her in the daylight, she still holds tight to what she knows—sweeping. As she starts to consider what has been offered to her, she finally decides to accept the invitation to present herself and her gifts to the Child King.
But then thinks about it some more and decides to go, after all. So stays up all night baking. She bakes cakes and cookies and candies to give the Baby King. Then she gathers the homemade cookies and cakes, and brings along her broom so she can sweep for the new mother.
However, she learns she is too late; the Kings' procession has already moved on.
But the difficulty of letting go of the only way she knows to live has held her up and now she is too late to go with the procession that reached out to her.
She tries her best to catch up, but never did. They say that each Epiphany Eve la Befana sets off on her journey, leaving gifts to all children along her way, in the hopes that one of them will be the Christ Child.
But when she lets go of her ideas about what it takes to live right during the night of miracles, she’s finally able to take to the sky faster and higher than she ever thought possible. Grateful for the invitation to share her gifts, she does so generously as she continues her search for the Baby King of Bethlehem.
Every year, on January 6, the first day of Epiphany, Italian children hold their breaths as they search their stockings for a sign that they have been good that year.
Realizing that no one can be perfect for a whole year, these days la Befana often leaves a sweet ‘lump of coal’ made from black sugar. Let me tell you, I had my lumps of coal years before my lumps in the throat preceding a creative spurt.
La Befana fulfills the four requirements of a folktale:
Has supernatural powers—Befana can fly
Comes from one specific culture—Befana comes from Italy, which makes it originally from one culture
Doesn’t have an a specific author and it’s been told through generations
Teaches a lesson—when you want something, you don’t always get it, but you may get something else that could be better
Tradition is a good way to create a bridge between young and old, the two groups who focus most not just on doing, but also on the power of being. Connections help build relationships and a sense of community.
I’ll leave you with a fun clip of a movie on la Befana comes at night.
Happy new year.
References:
DePaola, Tomie, The Legend of Old Befana (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1980)
La Befana