01/06/2026
A touching story of the beautiful Italian tradition of January 6th, "La Befana".
In many parts of Italy, (and some other countries as well) gift-giving takes place on Epiphany, January 6. In Italy it typically includes the figure if an ‘Old Lady,’ named Befana. Her name may be a cognate of the word “epiphania.”
The story goes that, the Magi, following the Star and on their way to find the Christ Child, stayed one night at the home of a hard-working elderly woman, Befana. She took wonderful care of the travelers. Her house was so clean, and she cooked them a marvelous meal. They told her where they were going, to find the Divine Child, to pay Him homage and give Him their gifts. They invited Befana to accompany them to the Christ, but she was busy sweeping the house and carrying out the chores, and explained that she had too many other things to do.
After the Wise Men left, Bafana began to regret her decision. The legend says that she gathered many gifts and she left her house, still with her broom in hand. She would spend all her life searching for this special Child. On Epiphany, Befana gives gifts to children, always hoping that one of the children she sees, and to whom she gives a gift, will be the Christ Child.
Often Befana – an old woman with a broom – is represented as a witch or a comical character. I like to think of her as a good, hard-working woman, who, like us all at times, got too absorbed in her work. She missed her opportunity to follow after the Incarnate Lord, but now serves God in generous charity, by giving what she has to those she encounters, knowing that in so doing, she honors Jesus Christ Himself.
