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A bit on La Befana, Italian witch of Christmas:
She represents the "the connection btwn the living & the dead" ( https://www.radicisiciliane.com/blog/la-befana-christmas-witch-goddess-of-ancestral-spirit-fascist-propaganda-befanini-recipe-and-spell?fbclid=IwAR2MEgc7oSoS5xP3677lhpqcnGbv7dhNkPiBI3sl0DTWTGqYVwIpI93-jRc)
Dad tells me my grandmother would leave a wooden stick out on Jan 5, as Befana would sweep house/cleanse the energies Jan 6, the Epiphany
She represents the "the connection btwn the living & the dead" ( https://www.radicisiciliane.com/blog/la-befana-christmas-witch-goddess-of-ancestral-spirit-fascist-propaganda-befanini-recipe-and-spell?fbclid=IwAR2MEgc7oSoS5xP3677lhpqcnGbv7dhNkPiBI3sl0DTWTGqYVwIpI93-jRc)
Dad tells me my grandmother would leave a wooden stick out on Jan 5, as Befana would sweep house/cleanse the energies Jan 6, the Epiphany
My grandparents would put coal around the tree (because the kids were bad) rather than presents. Much like Santa folklore.
Grandma, hot-blooded Sicilian, would say Befana would stick a hot needle thru tongue if they cursed.
Grandma, hot-blooded Sicilian, would say Befana would stick a hot needle thru tongue if they cursed.
Befana is a witch. She rides on a broom, she represents the wise crone, and she's associated with ancestral worship. Sort of a line btwn the bloodline and the living. She is around between XMAS and Jan 6.
As Marybeth Bonfiglio says, "I like to think of Befana as an expression of Hecate during these 12 days where we wait for that “revelation/appearance/manifestation” to happen— sweeping our consciousness clean so we can discover new things about who we are, why we are here."
And @JudikaIlles says, "Befana may predate Christianity and may originally be a goddess of ancestral spirits, forest, and the passage of time. Some identify this wandering, nocturnal crone with Hekate.” ( https://www.radicisiciliane.com/blog/la-befana-christmas-witch-goddess-of-ancestral-spirit-fascist-propaganda-befanini-recipe-and-spell?fbclid=IwAR2MEgc7oSoS5xP3677lhpqcnGbv7dhNkPiBI3sl0DTWTGqYVwIpI93-jRc)
Befana (Epifania, greek) may be born of the lore of the goddess Streina/Strenua — presides over the New Year. She purifies, renews, readies us for what is to come. Wellbeing.
