I was recently looking into the Christmas traditions in Italy and stumbled upon La Befana. In Italian tradition, La Befana – who is a good witch – flies around on her broom, giving gifts to children on January 6th. Flying down the chimney, she leaves sweets and fruits in the stockings of good children, and coal or garlic for those who have been bad.
It is said that the legend of how La Befana came to do this, is that she was initially looking for Bethlehem at the birth of Jesus, but did not manage to find him and so is still looking to this day.
She is typically characterised as an old hag-like woman, with a black hat, red dress (often tattered), red or black pointy shoes, and a long cloak.
I find this to be a lovely little tradition, and it reminds me of my primary school. Each year, at Christmas time, we would leave our shoes at school (the spare set that we had for PE) in anticipation of Saint Nicolas’ visit. We were told that he, too, would leave us a gift if we had been good and coal if we had been naughty. We would return the next day to find a lovely Christmas ornament in our shoes (I never remember any of my classmates getting coal – a wise move on the teacher’s part). This was a wonderful tradition for the teachers at my school to maintain, and one that I always remember with fondness for the magic that it brought to everyone at Christmas time.
I think it is very important for each generation to continue traditions like these, as they really do make the holidays special and magical for both children and adults alike.
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