About La Befana
La Befana is the Italian Christmas tradition that doesn't quite fit anywhere else: an elderly woman, a witch in everything but malice, who flies through the night on a broomstick on Epiphany Eve and fills the stockings of well-behaved children with sweets and toys (and the misbehaving ones with a piece of coal — black sugar, in practice). Her name is a corruption of Epifania, and her legend folds together the visit of the Magi (she gave them shelter but refused to follow), pre-Christian Italic figures of the winter household, and the simple need for someone to do for Italian children what Santa Claus does elsewhere.
For a deeper historical treatment, see Befana — Wikipedia.
The night of 5 January is hers: she enters down the chimney, sweeps the floor, fills the calza (stocking) hung at the fireplace, and is gone. Children leave a small glass of wine and a few biscuits or a slice of orange. The Piazza Navona in Rome holds an annual Befana fair. Cards exchanged for Epiphany in Italy tend to feature her, not the Magi.
Traditional greetings
The phrases below are the ones most often used to mark La Befana in person, by phone, and on cards. The native-script column shows the greeting as a recipient would read it; the transliteration is for those who would like to say it aloud; the English column is a literal rather than a poetic translation.
| Language | Greeting | Transliteration | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Italian | Buona Befana | Happy Befana | |
| Italian | Buona Epifania | Happy Epiphany |
Design tips for printable La Befana cards
Hand-printed cards for La Befana reward restraint and specific reference. The notes below distil what the most thoughtful cards in the tradition tend to do — and what the most commercial ones tend to get wrong.
- A silhouetted witch on a broomstick against a starry sky — friendly, never sinister.
- A single hanging stocking (calza) full of biscotti and oranges as the cover image.
- Italian Christmas palette of deep red, fir green, and warm gold, with a midnight blue accent for the night sky.
- For children's cards, illustrate the small piece of black sugar 'coal' as a knowing wink.
- Inside, the traditional Befana rhyme — La Befana vien di notte / con le scarpe tutte rotte — makes a beloved touch.
A starting palette:
Five verses for La Befana cards
Each verse below is short enough to copy onto a folded card by hand. They progress from formal to intimate; pick the one that best fits the relationship and the year you are writing into.
- La Befana vien di notte — the Befana comes by night. May your stocking be full and your sweets be many.
- Buona Befana. May the old woman on the broomstick find your chimney unblocked and your biscuits worth eating.
- From Rome to Calabria, an elderly witch with a heart full of sugar is closing out your Christmas season.
- May the year ahead bring you a little of what you asked for and most of what you needed — and may the coal be only the joking kind.
- Buona Epifania. May the small slice of orange left for the witch be eaten, and the small wish you tucked into the stocking come true.
Related cultural holidays
Other holidays observed in the Europe family of traditions: