The Goddess Directory

The Old Woman Who Brings the Gifts

Befana is an Italian folklore figure who visits children on the eve of Epiphany, the night of January 5th. She flies on a broomstick and slips down chimneys, filling stockings with candy for children who have been good and a lump of coal for those who have not. She is often pictured as an old woman in a patched shawl, carrying a sack over her shoulder and a broom in her hand.

Her roots reach back further than the Christian story attached to her now. Befana traces to Strenia, a Roman goddess tied to the new year and to purification. The Romans held a festival called Strenae around the new year, where people exchanged gifts of figs, honey, and branches as tokens of good fortune. Strenia watched over that exchange, and her name is likely the root of Befana’s own.

As Christianity spread through Italy, Strenia’s gift giving folded into the story of the Three Magi. Legend says the Magi stopped at an old woman’s house on their way to visit the newborn Christ and asked her to join them. She refused, busy with her housework, but changed her mind too late. She has searched for the child ever since, leaving gifts for children along her way in case one of them is him.

That older, wilder shape never fully left her. She flies a broom rather than walking a road, and some tellings give her witch-like features, a hooked nose, a hunched back, soot on her face from years of chimneys. She belongs to the same old family as other broom-riding women who once carried the turning of the year on their backs.

Befana asks nothing grand of the households she visits. She sweeps the floor before she leaves, a small act said to sweep away the troubles of the old year. She rewards ordinary goodness in children rather than heroic deeds, and she keeps her searching gentle rather than sorrowful. To sit with Befana is to remember that the new year begins with small kindnesses, a swept floor, a full stocking, a door left open for whoever might still be looking for the way.

Befana
Befana is a kindly gift-giving witch who flies through the skies on Epiphany eve. She is still very popular in Italy but this little old witch was once better known as the Goddess Strenia.
Strenia is the ancient Roman Goddess of the New Year. As the goddess of gifts, she brings with her prosperity, abundance and pleasure. Perhaps that is why she is still looked upon kindly unlike many other crone goddesses.
But a crone she is, a dark goddess who stands at a crossroad. The new year which brings with it joy and new beginnings is also a time for purification. A time to sweep away the old with your broom and with the help of her magic bring in your desires for the new year.

Call to Befana with gifts of honey and twigs. Call in her abundance but dont forget to sweep away the old before you start a new.’

The Coventina Press – Befana Oracle Card

The Coventina Press

Head over to The Coventina Press where you can find all my current goddess artwork, including the Befana Oracle Altar card to add to your collection.