Epiphany or Befana? - Where do these names come from?

Posted by: paola on Dec 28, 2009  

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The liturgical Christian calendar, in both Eastern and Western Church tradition, has - since the early Christian period – dedicated 6 January, to the celebration of the 'Epiphany'.
This word of Greek origin, means 'manifestation' and refers to the St. Matthew Gospel's event, where there is the visit of the 'Wise Men' to the newborn Jesus.

 

In common speech, the word 'Epiphany' - difficult and probably not really understood - became 'Befania' and, later 'Befana'.

According to a Christian legend the 3 Kings asked an old lady for directions to find where the baby Jesus was. They invited her to go with them but she declined. She regretted it immediately after and so she prepared a basket full of candies and started looking for them.

So since then she stops at every chimney, leaving the children toys and candies, hoping that one of them is the Baby Jusus.


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