La Befana

Yesterday was “la festa della Befana!”(the Epiphany.) La Befana in Italian folklore is an old women that flies on a broom and leaves candy or coal for children throughout Italy on the eve of January 6th. Children leave their socks or shoes out and find treats left by la Befana when they wake the next morning. My mother fondly recalls finding a piece of candy and an orange in her shoe when she was a child living in Calabria. Similar to Santa Clause,la Befana finds her way inside children’s homes by coming down the chimney. Auguri!