La Befana is the old woman of Italian Christmas tradition who flies on a broomstick on the night of the 5th of January, Epiphany Eve, descending chimneys to leave gifts in the stockings of good children and coal in the stockings of naughty ones. She sweeps the floor of each house before she leaves, a gesture understood as sweeping away the old year’s troubles. She is depicted as an old woman with a warty nose, a shawl, and the general visual vocabulary of the witch, and she is the central Christmas gift-giver for much of Italy, considerably more culturally significant in the Italian tradition than Santa Claus.
The name Befana is a corruption of Epifania, Epiphany, the Christian feast of the 6th of January commemorating the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus. The tradition that places Befana’s gift-giving on the night before Epiphany connects it directly to this feast, but the figure herself is pre-Christian in her roots, a winter hag whose broomstick, chimney entry, and coal-or-gifts binary suggest origins in the same complex of midwinter supernatural female figures that produced Perchta, Frau Holle, and the various Befana-adjacent figures across Italy and neighbouring regions.
The Legend of the Magi
The most widely told origin story for Befana connects her to the Three Wise Men on their way to visit the infant Jesus. The Magi stopped at her house and invited her to come with them to see the newborn king, bringing gifts. She was too busy sweeping. She said she would come later. She never found the way. Now she wanders the earth on Epiphany Eve, visiting each house and leaving gifts for the children, still looking for the Christ child and leaving something for each child she finds in case this one is the one she is searching for.
This origin story is a medieval Christian addition to what appears to be a much older tradition, a narrative that explains the pre-Christian gift-giving hag in terms that make her theologically acceptable within the Christian framework. The Befana who cannot find the Christ child is a figure of sympathetic failure rather than a pagan supernatural threat, and the gifts she leaves become acts of piety rather than simply tradition.
Coal and Gifts
The coal given to naughty children in the Befana tradition is in Italy a specific sweet called carbone dolce, sweet coal, made from sugar, food colouring, and egg whites to resemble lumps of coal. The tradition of sweet coal has become a significant commercial product in Italy and represents the domestication of what was originally a genuine threat into a manageable piece of seasonal theatre. The coal that Befana leaves for naughty children is now something children might actually hope for if it means they get the sweet version.
The gift-or-coal binary is consistent across virtually all European Christmas gift-giving traditions, from Befana to Saint Nicholas to Father Christmas, and it reflects the same underlying moral structure: the Christmas season is a moment of reckoning as well as celebration, and the supernatural gift-giver knows which category you fall into.
Befana Today
The 6th of January remains a public holiday in Italy, and the Befana tradition continues with genuine vitality despite the increasing prominence of the Santa Claus tradition driven by American cultural influence. In many Italian families Befana is the primary gift-giving occasion, with Christmas itself being more focused on family celebration and the religious dimension. The competition between Befana and Santa for the Italian Christmas gift-giving role is one of the more interesting examples of traditional folk custom resisting commercial cultural replacement.
For more on the Christmas folklore tradition, the Perchta article covers the Alpine winter witch whose tradition shares roots with Befana’s. The Real Saint Nicholas article covers the historical bishop whose legend became the Santa Claus tradition that Befana competes with. The Christmas hub page has every article in the cluster.
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