I am way, way, way late on posting this topic!  Bafana visits Italian children on the evening of 5 January. This is the main day for gift giving and presents are brought for children by La Befana, a kindly old witch who fill children’s stockings in the night with sweets or i dolciumi if they have been good or with coal or il carbone if they have been bad.

I was prompted to finally get this posted because of this very cool poster I saw at random in Venice last Sunday. I love it!

 

I actually had a close encounter with Befana myself in early January, and here it is.  I’m the  one in the fur hat:

And, btw, she gave me some candy and no coal!

 

 

 

Updated 9 Feb 2017

 

 

  The best of all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before the month of January slips entirely through my fingers, I want to get the rest of my Epiphany photos posted.

Here are the animals waiting patiently at the creche scene at the Duomo. They await the three Wise Men and their entourages,  marking the end of the long, ceremonious cavalcade.

 

 

Once the Wise Men appear with their gifts, they are received by the magistrates of the city in a spectacular blending of church and state!

 

The gifts are taken to the living creche scene.

After all the enactment, the hundreds of balloons, something I doubt Mary and Joseph ever imagined let alone saw, are set free!

 

The entire day is a spectacle not to be missed!  I am so glad I got to see it!