CHIAVARI, Italy - The Feast
of the Epiphany, which we will celebrate on Tuesday, January 6th, is a
national holiday here in Italy. Technically it is an ancient religious festival
celebrating the Magi’s visit to the Christ Child. It is sometimes called “Three
Kings Day” or “Twelfth Day” because it is celebrated twelve days after
Christmas.
Part of the celebration is
the arrival of La Befana, the good witch. She comes down the chimney in
the middle of the night and fills the stockings that the kids have hung on their
bedposts or fireplaces. There are toys and sweets for those who have been good
and a lump of coal for those who have not. Sound familiar? So what happens if
you don’t have a chimney? Well, sometimes she files in on a broom or she might
come riding up on a donkey or if none of those work she may just slip in
through a keyhole. She is a witch, after all.
According to Italian legend,
the night before the Wise Men arrived at the manger with gifts for the Baby
Jesus, they stopped at the hovel of an old woman to ask directions. Seeing her
alone, they invited her to come along with them but she replied that she was
too busy. Then a shepherd, who was also on his way to visit the Baby Jesus,
asked her to join him too, but again she refused.
Later that night, when a great
light appeared in the sky, the old woman changed her mind and decided to
join the Wise Men and the shepherd and bring the Baby Jesus gifts that had
belonged to her now dead child. She gathered the gifts and some food and like
the Magi followed the star toward Bethlehem.
Unfortunately she was not
able to find the Magi, the shepherds or the new-born baby Jesus. Disheartened
by this lost opportunity she stopped every child she saw along the way and with
the hope that one of them was the Christ child, she gave each of them a gift. To
this day La Befana continues to look for the Christ Child and on this night she
goes from house to house in search of Him.
One of the biggest Befana celebrations
in Italy takes place in the town of Urbania, in Le Marche region. And just like
Santa Claus has his house up at the North Pole, La Befana has her house in
Urbania, and each year between 30,000-50,000 people come to visit her there.
In Rome’s Piazza Navona they
celebrate the "feast of the Befana" and the piazza is ringed with
stalls selling candy, including lumps of black, sugar charcoal and toys, and
pre-stuffed stockings for the little ones. If the kids can stay awake until
midnight, they can take part in an ancient Roman tradition of waiting for La
Befana to appear in the window of one of the buildings in the piazza, or
sometimes she “flys in” at the stroke of midnight on January 6th with a sack of
goodies to give away.
Rome also celebrates the
Epiphany with a procession in medieval costumes. There are symbolic gifts
for the Pope and a parade up the wide avenue that leads to the Vatican. Then
the Pope says morning mass in St Peter's Basilica to commemorate the visit of
the Wise Men bearing gifts for Jesus. This tradition is (very) loosely
based on the ancient pagan holiday of Saturnalia. Now that was a party.
Saturnalia was a week-long
blow out celebrated between December 17 -25 in ancient Rome. During this week
long period the Roman courts were closed and no one could be punished for
damaging property or hurting other people. In other words, it was a lawless
free-for-all. The party would start when the Roman authorities chose “an enemy
of the Roman people”. During the entire week of Saturnalia, the “enemy” was
forced to eat and drink and indulge in sexual pleasures, but at the end of the
week the Romans sacrificed the “enemy” to the Gods. To celebrate the ceremony
of the human sacrifice, cookies in the form of humans were made and eaten. Are
we talking about the great, great, great granddaddies of gingerbread men here? Why
I do believe we are.
In addition to the human
sacrifice, naked people would go from house to house and sing to the occupants
(Christmas caroling?), there was widespread drunkenness and everyone closed
their eyes to rape and other sexual assaults.
At the end of all this
partying, Romans would go to the Temple of Juno on Capitoline Hill to have
their fortunes (augers) told by a wise, old crone who lived in a cave the rest
of the year. Everyone wanted to know what was in store for them in the New Year.
But then, when Christianity became the main religion, they put a stop to all
that partying. But the people were not happy with the changes, so the Christians
created La Befana and had her bring gifts to placate the partygoers as a
substitute for the old woman who read the augers.
The Italian word auguri
originated from this practice as it was common to wish someone good augers, or
as we say now, tanti aguri (best wishes). And that is what I wish for all of you –
Tanti, tanti auguri per un felice e prospero 2014.
Im glad to read you again. Thanks for this post.
ReplyDeleteBest for you Buddy!