“What’s with all of the witches popping up around town?”

“In weather, the Befana is bringing colder temperatures and rain.”

“It’s almost time for Italian Halloween!”

These are three things that I’ve heard when made in reference to Epiphany in Italy. After living here for a few years, it now seems very obvious— but for those who are not aware, an Italian witch tonight will be flying to fill stockings tonight, the 5th of January.

The Befana, as the witch is called, is a very popular fixture who starts showing up before the last of the New Year’s Eve fireworks have been cleaned up. It happens at about the time as when the panettone and pandoro start getting marked down in order to facilitate a swift disappearance (in my mind, this is to create an acceptable buffer before the arrival of colomba. And Easter is coming early this year!). 

When everyone is more or less sick of their favorite Christmas bread, the Befana is something that both big and little kids look forward to. She can be found taking up the real estate that Babbo Natale vacated in shopping malls: greeting children for a photo and handing out either coal or candy.

You also see the likeness of the Befana in cafes, shopping centers, and of course in lines of Kinder-branded witches in the supermarket. On the morning of Epiphany, Italian kids wake up to find a stocking either filled with coal or candy—depending on their behavior (although the coal is more likely of the candy persuasion). Still, I would not want to be in a household where kids discover coal in their stockings. 

 And Epiphany is decidedly not Italian Halloween— even if both traditions celebrate candy and witches. While indeed, you may see folks out on the town dressed as witches (last year we passed a trio near midnight at Milan’s Duomo), that’s the extent of costumes on the night before Epiphany. I have yet to encounter three magi walking around looking for a manger. And we won’t even get started on the idea of one holiday being pagan and the other being very Christian. No comment from the Befana on where she thinks she falls into all of this.

In any case, Epiphany and the Befana embody an Italian celebration all its own—no need to draw any parallels. Indeed, an Italian once lamented to me that one of my fellow Americans described panettone as “a big muffin”. Mortacci sua. And while traveling north, I heard another fellow countryperson try to characterize a local bread and meat/cheese combination as “Lunchables for Adults”. I’m not going to even try to break that down what that is to an Italian person– but still it did make me smile. Just like “Italian Halloween” made me chuckle a bit when I first heard it. 

But as I have already mentioned this year, Epiphany is like the big signal that everything is now done. The gong has been hit, and all characters must leave the stage. L’Epifania tutte le feste si porta via. Or, “Epiphany carries all of the holidays away”. 

And so after tomorrow, Rome will commence with taking down the proverbial Christmas tree. Not just the descendant of Spelacchio—this year located to Piazza del Popolo—but also the many lights hanging over the streets. And the witches, as well as the stockings. Also the simple lighted Christmas stars adorning the churches (I really love them for their simplicity)—all of it goes away. Until then, just a little more candy and perhaps a limited dose of coal. Buona Befana and here we go into the rest of the year.