La Befana: Italy's Christmas Witch, the Magi and the Night of 5 January
In most of the English-speaking world the gift-giving is over by the morning of 25 December. In Italy there is one more visit. On the night of 5 January, the eve of the Epiphany, an old woman flies over the rooftops on a broomstick, comes down the chimney, and fills the stockings of children with sweets if they have been good and coal if they have not. Before she leaves, she sweeps the floor. She is La Befana, and she is probably the most widely loved witch in Europe.
This piece covers who she is, the legend that explains her journey, where her name comes from, the theories about her older roots, and how to keep her night at home.
Who she is
The Epiphany is a public holiday in Italy, and her night is the last of the season. An Italian proverb sums it up: l'Epifania tutte le feste porta via, the Epiphany carries all the holidays away. Decorations come down, children go back to school, and the year properly begins.
La Befana is pictured as an old woman, bent and cheerful, with a shawl, a patched skirt, a sack of gifts and a broom. Her shoes are worn out from walking. She is usually covered in soot from the chimneys. Italian children learn a rhyme about her that begins La Befana vien di notte, con le scarpe tutte rotte: "The Befana comes by night, with her shoes all worn out." She is not frightening. She is the grandmother of the season, a little grubby, very busy, and fair.
Children hang stockings on the night of 5 January. In the morning the good find sweets, fruit and small toys; the naughty find coal. In practice almost everyone finds both, because the coal is usually carbone dolce, a black rock candy made to look like the real thing.
The legend of the Magi
Quilted hats for Befana night
The story most often told to explain her goes like this. The three Magi, following the star toward Bethlehem, stopped at an old woman's house to ask the way, or in some versions to ask her to come with them. She was busy with her housework and said no. Later she changed her mind, gathered some gifts and set out after them, but she never found the star or the child. So she still travels every year on the eve of the Epiphany, leaving gifts at every house with children in case one of them is the one she missed.
It is a gentle story about a missed chance and a long apology, and it explains her timing neatly. The Epiphany on 6 January marks the visit of the Magi in the Christian calendar and closes the twelve days of Christmas.
Where her name comes from
Befana is generally taken to be a worn-down form of Epifania, the Italian for Epiphany. Said quickly over a few centuries, Epifania became Befania and then Befana. In other words she is named after the night she flies, which is a sign of how closely she has been tied to that one date.
Is she older than the legend?
Some writers suggest that La Befana preserves something older than the Magi story. The ideas usually offered are a Roman goddess of new year gifts, an old woman figure who personified the dying year and was burned or driven out at its end, or a cousin of the Alpine winter women such as Perchta and Frau Holle, who also visited houses in the twelve nights and judged how well the housework had been done. These are interesting parallels and some of them are plausible. None is proven, and the written evidence for Befana herself is late. One custom keeps the idea alive: in parts of north-east Italy, bonfires are lit on Epiphany Eve, and in some places an effigy of an old woman goes on the fire, read locally as burning away the old year. It is fair to say she belongs to a broad European family of midwinter old women; it is not fair to say she is a disguised goddess.
That family is worth knowing. Our piece on the maiden, mother and crone covers why the old woman figure keeps coming back, and Krampus and Krampusnacht covers another visitor from the same Alpine world.
The broom
The broom is the detail that makes her a witch in the modern eye, and it is also the detail that most clearly ties her to the house. She flies on it and she sweeps with it. Sweeping on her way out is often read as clearing away the old year so the new one starts clean, which is a reading any witch will recognise. Our guides to the broom as a symbol and to besom magic go into that in more detail.
Keeping Befana night at home
Hang a stocking on 5 January
If your stockings came down after Christmas, put one back up for one more night. Fill it with small sweets, an orange and a lump of black candy for the joke.
Leave her something
Italian families traditionally leave a glass of wine and a small plate of food for her. A piece of bread, a few figs, a glass of red wine on the hearth or the kitchen table is enough.
Sweep the house
Do what she does. On the evening of 5 January, sweep the floors from the back of the house toward the front door, and out. It is the end of the twelve days and a good moment to close the season.
Wear the hat
Befana is one of the few occasions where a witch hat is part of a family tradition rather than a Halloween costume. Towns such as Urbania in the Marche hold whole Befana festivals full of them. A quilted hat from the witch hat collection suits her better than a pointed costume one; the Ancestor Key witch hat and the Full Moon witch hat both look right on an old woman with a broom. Our guide to displaying quilted witch hats covers where to hang one once the night is over.
One hat for the old woman with the broom
Frequently Asked Questions About La Befana
Who is La Befana?
An old woman from Italian folklore who flies on a broomstick on the night of 5 January, the eve of the Epiphany, and fills children's stockings with sweets for the good and coal for the naughty.
Why does La Befana come on 5 January?
The legend says she refused to join the Magi on their way to Bethlehem, changed her mind too late, and has searched ever since on the eve of the Epiphany, the day that marks their visit.
Is La Befana a witch?
She is usually called the Christmas witch because of her broom and her look, but in Italian tradition she is a kindly old woman rather than a practitioner of magic. Some writers link her to older winter goddesses; that link is suggested, not proven.
Where does the name Befana come from?
It is generally taken to be a worn-down form of Epifania, the Italian word for Epiphany.
La Befana is the last visitor of the season, and the only one who cleans up after herself. Leave her a glass of wine, sweep the floor, and let the twelve days close.
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