The holidays aren’t yet over in Rome! Here in the Eterna, we stretch our our celebrations, making the Christmas feast last all the way until 6 January, the feast of Epiphany or Befana. Thus, many Romans have not yet gone back to work and children have not returned to school. There’s still a lot of eating and celebrating going on — though, in a brief walk through the city yesterday, we noticed that lots of people are getting cranky. It seems that it’s time to get back to the routine.
But not, of course, until today’s celebration is finished! For those of you not in the know, Ephiphany or Befana is the day that the Three Wise Men visited the Baby Jesus and gave him such gifts as frankincense, gold, and myrrh. It’s also the day on which Italians have traditionally exchanged gifts (rather than on Christmas Eve or Day), though that practice is changing.
Just as American children are taught that they must behave in order to insure a visit from Santa Claus on Christmas Day, Italian children have traditionally been told that they must comport themselves nicely in order that Befana, the grandmotherly house frau who failed to accompany the Wise Men to Bethlehem (click here to read her story), might distribute gifts at their house on the feast of Epiphany.
What else does one do on Epiphany? One eats, of course. And one pays a final visit to the Christmas fair in Piazza Navona. There, you might pick up a few creche figures, play some carnival games, ride the carousel, admire the manger scene, buy a Befana (like those in the photo above), or have one last sugary snack (a nutella-covered donut, perhaps?) before reforming your life in accordance with strict New Year’s Resolutions.
So, on this last day of the holidays, we wish you a Happy Befana!
