La Befana appeared across Italy on the night of 5 January, the eve of Epiphany.
In Italian homes, children hung stockings and listened for a kindly witch who rides a broom, squeezes down chimneys and leaves sweets for the good and charcoal for the naughty.
The tradition survived glossy Christmas adverts and still holds its own against Santa’s red suit, with Piazza Navona’s two-century-old Befana market drawing thousands of visitors between 1 December and 6 January.
From Village Hearth to National Symbol
Folklorists trace Befana to a mix of Christian and pre-Christian customs.
The figure blends ancient Roman winter solstice celebrations, which continued for twelve days after 25 December, with Christian symbolism of the Three Kings. According to legend, the Magi asked an elderly woman for directions to Bethlehem and invited her to join them.
She declined, busy with housework. Later, filled with regret, she set out to find the Christ child but never succeeded. Now she flies each year, leaving gifts for every child in hope that one might be Him.
What matters is less the exact origin and more the rhythm it creates. In many families, Christmas Day belongs to adults and long lunches. Befana night belongs to children.
Stockings hang from radiators, grandparents spin warnings about coal, and parents sneak sweets into place once everyone is asleep. The Italian saying L’Epifania tutte le feste porta via (Epiphany takes all the holidays away) marks this as the final act before schools reopen and routine returns.
Domestic Magic Meets Tourist Spectacle
In towns such as Urbania, in the Marche region, the figure has grown into a full festival.
Streets host parades, fireworks and “flying Befana” performances between rooftops, drawing visitors from across Italy. The elderly woman with a broom has become a tourist attraction, yet she still arrives in quiet kitchens before dawn.
Florence stages elaborate events, with Befana leading a parade of vintage cars from Cascine Park to Piazza Santa Maria Novella. Venice holds the Regatta della Befana, where participants dressed as Befana race in boats along the Grand Canal.
These public performances sit alongside the private moment: a child waking to find sweets in a stocking.
The Invisible Labour Behind a Myth
Look closely and Befana carries another meaning worth considering. She is an elderly woman doing all the emotional work of a celebration. She travels at night, tidies up crumbs, checks who behaved, fills each sock and then disappears before breakfast.
Many grandmothers will recognise that job description. Italy still leans heavily on older women for childcare and seasonal organisation. The figure of a busy, slightly dishevelled Befana who thinks of everyone and rests only once the decorations come down feels less like fantasy and more like a familiar silhouette.
That does not make her a sad character. In many drawings she smiles, with a nose that is too big and clothes that do not match. She is not polished or young, but she is the one who knows where each child’s stocking hangs.
A Crowded Winter Calendar
Befana also shows how crowded Europe’s winter calendar really is.
Sweden has Saint Lucia, parts of the continent mark the Three Kings, Central Europe still remembers Saint Nicholas, and in parts of North Africa and the Levant, Baba Noël has joined older New Year traditions.
The Italian witch fits easily into this patchwork. She appears after Santa Claus, but before schools return, and gently shifts attention from pure shopping to small rituals: a sock on a radiator, a mandarin orange, a sugar lump shaped like coal. In an era when December feels standardised, Befana offers something messier and more local.
She smells of wood smoke rather than perfume campaigns, and she arrives late, as if to prove that not all holidays run on the same clock.
What Stays After the Sweets
Modern life pressures even stubborn customs. Some Italian cities now combine Befana with big sales and branded events, and the witch appears in shopping centres as often as in stories. The risk is obvious: a figure born from household imagination becomes a marketing mascot.
Yet many children remember the small, domestic side of Befana more than any stage show. The creak of someone in the corridor at night, the weight of a stocking in the morning, the strange mix of chocolate and charcoal pieces at the bottom of the sock.
Those details keep a tradition alive. They show that winter in Europe is not one single story, but many overlapping ones, carried by whatever figure each town sends through the night. January 6 remains a national holiday across Italy, with shops closed and families gathered, marking the true end of Christmas.
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