Befana - Italy's Way of Extending Christmas

Growing up, I can always remember that little bit of melancholy I would feel when New Year's Day would come because I knew that the Christmas holidays were just about over and I would be heading back to school within a day or two. In later years, when I was employed by the school system, I experienced that feeling again. People in Italy don't experience this because their Christmas holidays go for another week after New Year.

Technically January 6th is a Christian holiday called Epiphany which commemorates the visit of the Magi to the Christ child. However, most Italians call this day "Befana" which, according to tradition, is when a good witch flies through the air on her broom visiting all the children's households and leaving either a lump of coal in their stocking if they were bad, or a treat if they were good. Sound familiar?

My husband celebrated Befana when he was young and really didn't know anything about Santa Claus until he came to Canada. Now, of course, Italians embrace Santa Claus and many of the more British and North American Christmas traditions we are familiar with, but they haven't given up Befana. I found it a little disconcerting that right after New Year I saw witch decorations for sale as well as witches haunting the outside of stores alongside the Christmas decorations. It was like Halloween all over again.

Well, of course as missionaries we don't get holidays off, generally speaking, but we do get some of the benefits of the Italians being off or away. For one thing, we experience the joy of nearly non-existent Rome traffic and even maybe a place to park the car.  Another is the chance to see presepes for an extra week.

Presepes is the name for nativity scenes and it really is a jaw-dropping art form here in Italy. At home, most nativity scenes I saw were just the stable scene with the shepherds and the three wise men. Here, presepes extend to the whole village and a whole lot goes on in these scenes besides the stable scene with Joseph, Mary and the Baby Jesus. As an example, I want to show you some pictures of a life-size presepe we accidentally stumbled  on in our Saturday P-Day on New Year's Eve. We went to a little hill-top town called Castel San Pietro Romano and saw that they had an interesting looking castle there. When we got to the castle, we realized the town had set it up as a life-sized presepe.

The first clue was just outside the castle wall when we found the little shed that had the tax/census taker guarded by two Roman solidiers. The helmets on those soldiers were quite rusty. 

Inside the castle courtyard, the "Little Town of Bethlehem" scenes unfolded before us. It was delightful.

What an interesting touch to have women selling birds in those stick cages.

And women checking out cloths. I can really imagine this would have happened in any little town.

The water in this waterwheel was real and the wheel was turning. It was part of a little stream they created that went right through the village.

Some of the mannequins moved such as this one doing the olive press.

The three Wise Men here are either taking a break from all that gift giving, or they're resting after the long journey before going out to find the Christ child.

These women look rather bored. Don't they know what an important event was unfolding in town?

Now the sheep were not mannequins...

But the cow was. I guess you can probably tell.








And now for the grande finale, in a little stone shed right in the middle of the courtyard...

I had never seen anything like this. I have seen many miniature presepes since being here, but never a life-sized one. 

There are also live presepes with real people held in several of the medieval hill top towns around Italy. It was my intention to go to one. In fact a group of us went this past Saturday just the day after Befana to see the one in Greccio, the hill top town where St. Francis of Assisi first started the presepe. (That's right; St. Francis didn't start it in Assisi. He started the tradition in Greccio.) Unfortunately the weather turned bitter cold and, although it didn't snow on us, it sure snowed in unexpected parts of Italy including Sicily. When we got to Greccio, we realized that, in spite of our layers and winter coats, if we stayed for the live nativity, we were apt to freeze to death. So we had a wonderful lunch in a little restaurant we had all to ourselves, and then went to the nativity museum. This is where you realize how true artisans work on these beautiful presepes:     
                                

I believe this is St. Francis carrying the Christ Child against the Dove. I think it's gorgeous.

We were very taken by how this Christ child looked. I had never seen one like that before. 

I actually like the fact that my camera flash caused that ray of light in the picture. It seems appropriate.

So many details. I think the people who make these are a little like the people who get together and make model train sceneries. 

Here's a unique one. Some of the ones in the museum were very different and quite artistic.






I am so grateful to have had these experiences and to be in a place where communities don't just put their nativity scenes in houses of worship or in private homes. Entire communities embrace them and have them available to see in all kinds of public places. Although I didn't get to see it, I'm told that one of the major piazzas in Rome had prescepes on display throughout the piazza. Hats off to my fellow Christians for showing their faith as well as their gifted artisan-ship in this way.

I also appreciate these because I believe in Christ. He is my Saviour and my Redeemer. How wonderful it is to be reminded of this at this time of year in unexpected places.