Have you been good?
What will the Befana leave in your stocking? Sweets, lemons, mandarins or lots of coal?
Have you ever wondered how the traditional celebration held on January 6 originated?

The character of the Befana finds its roots in pre-Christian cultural traditions and the etymology of its name derives from the Greek word ἐπιφάνεια, (epifaneia)which literally means "apparition".

The Christmas Holidays, and therefore the Epiphany as well, have always been regarded as an important time in the year as they represent the beginning of a new planting season, crucial for a bountiful  harvest.  
The tradition may have started in the as early as the polytheistic Roman culture.  Diana, goddess of the hunt and fertility, was said to fly over the fields accompanied by other women to increase their fertility before the seeds were sown.  This pagan belief merged and mutated over the centuries after with the advent of Christianity.  The middle ages and the wide-spread prosecution of witches transformed the goddess into an ugly crone with occult magic powers so terrifying that she had to be burned at the stake. The practice of "burning the old to make space for the new" still exists in many cultures even today.

The Church further legitimised the Befana persona with the traditional version of the Saviour's birth: the Three Kings, on their way to Bethlehem, asked an old lady to give them  directions, then insisted  she walk with them to the holy grotto; she refused, but then regretted her decision  so much that, to expiate the guilt, she gave sweets to all the children she could find.

The figure we celebrate today is therefore a combination of the "good goddess Diana" that brings gifts and fertility, and the sinister-looking hunch-backed old lady who brings small gifts, or leaves coal for those who were naughty. The unseemly hump on her back serves to remind everyone of the fact that once the holidays are over a new cycle of  hard work awaits them..because as the saying goes: The Epiphany leaves with the holidays!