La Befana vien di notte
con le scarpe tutte rotte
col vestito alla "romana"
viva viva la Befana !!
I grew up reciting this poem all the time in Italian and wanted to share a little bit about her and her story....
The English translation of the poem is...
La Befana comes at night
With her shoes all broken
With a dress in Roman style
Long live the Befana
Sounds much nicer in Italian.
La Befana visits on the night before the epiphany (January 5th) and brings candy and gifts to good girls and boys and brings ashes and coal to bad children.
La Befana was an old Italian lady who spent her days cleaning and scrubbing her house. (kinda reminds me of my mother in law, except she's not old and not Italian, but she does clean the house every day)
One day three travelers stopped by. It turned out they were the three wise men who were following the bright star in the sky which would lead them to the newborn baby Jesus.
They stopped to rest with La Befana and before they left they invited the old lady to come with them and meet the infant king. La Befana refused. She wanted to get back to her cleaning and felt she had wasted enough time already.
But afterwards, she thought it over and realized what a great opportunity she had thrown away. So she ran after the three wise men, to find them and go with them to meet the infant king. She never caught up to the 3 wise men, and tradition says that she is still looking for the baby king of Bethlehem. So every year on the Feast of the Three Kings January 6th she visits all children while they sleep and leaves them the gifts. She never knows which child might be the baby king of Bethlehem.
La Befana is one of Italy's oldest and most celebrated legends. This is a significant day for Italians because it marks the end of the Christmas season and the day that the three Wise Men arrived at the manger of the Christ child.
I know I am a few days late telling her story, but better late than never.
I know this....In My Life I will come across many legends, but I think this legend will become a part of our family tradition.
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