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“L’Epifania tutte le feste porta via”.
La Befana
Many Italians and Italian Americans are familiar with the Epiphany, L'epifania, or la befana, and not just because of its importance in Catholic folk tradition, but because you can receive gifts on January 6th! You may also be familiar with Befana, the Christmas witch, who delivers the presents to the worthy.January 6th is a national holiday in Italy and many cities may celebrate with a bonfire in their piazza. A straw figure, called il vecchio, may also be burned, though it appears thatthe burning of this effigy may be more of a Northern Italian tradition.
Some foods that may be consumed on the Epiphany include the following:
"Sweets, sweets and more sweets of any kind (it’s like an Italian Halloween, full of treats!)
- Caramelized apples (typical of Christmas markets especially)
- Cavallucci di Siena (soft biscuits from Siena, Tuscany)
- Anicini Liguri (biscuits from Liguria served with wine)
- Pastiera Napoletana (the first of the year, popular now but even more over Easter)
- Strufoli (friend, sweet treats from Campania)" (https://mamalovesitaly.com/epiphany-in-italy/#:~:text=How%20is%20the%20Epiphany%20celebrated,chimney%20or%20in%20the%20kitchen.)
Other treats may include foccacia della befana (a sweet bread), biscotti befanini, Carbone della Befana (sweet coal), or pinza, a dessert flan.
Different cities have different traditions, from the Regatta della Befana of Florence to the National Befana festival of Urbania. Even in Italian American diasporic communities, we can see Befana, the Epiphany witch, visiting different communities and giving candy or oranges to children on Epiphany Eve.
In folk Catholic traditions, it's also common to do a blessing of the home in the name of the Three magi. This custom is one I originally found in "Sister Karol's Book of Spells, Blessings and Folk Magic".
I've since modified it slightly, as folk magic usually goes. Here's my version of the Three Kings House Blessing, but I highly recommend incorporating the original blessing into your feast day.
1. Light your incense on your altar and consecrate any tools necessary with it.
2. Bless your salt and with any prayers you choose - I like nine Hail Mary's for this.
3. It's good to have a bowl of water to dip from during this period, so make sure you bless it in a bowl.
4. Go through the house with your blessed salt and throw it into the corners, sweeping up each room and disposing of the salt in an outside trash can. This can take a while, so be intentional and slow with it!
5. Afterwards, take your blessed water and your juniper and go through each room, sprinkling the water throughout each space. I like to pay special attention to the doors of each room, spraying a cross of water with the evergreen bough.
6. Following the sprinkling of water, use the incense to smoke cleanse each room and say a blessing over it.
7. Take everything back to the altar and let the incense burn down completely.
8. While your incense is burning, take your chalk or chalk marker and on the front of the house, over the doorway, write "K+M+B+current year" or "20+CMB+current year" (I've seen and utilized both renditions).
8. While your incense is burning, take your chalk or chalk marker and on the front of the house, over the doorway, write "K+M+B+current year" or "20+CMB+current year" (I've seen and utilized both renditions).
Other workings for this day
As we move out of the liminal space that is in between Natale and L'epifania, it's a good time to begin any workings that include spirits of luck, opening the ways, and creating space for the success we want to see this year.
Depending on your tradition, some works that can be done include:
1. Luck & luck magic. Some tools for this include lucky pennies or traditional good luck charms.
2. Crossroads work. Petitioning the spirits of the ways to assist you for the coming year.
3. Money and money drawing work. Setting the tone for the goals you want to achieve and how you want to achieve them through the year.
This is also a potent time for revamping any protective workings for the next year - redoing mirror wards, house wards, or tending to the spirits of your home.
Some ways to do this, other than the ritual cleansing are:
Washing down thresholds and doors with different watersLaying protective material under doormats or on the perimeters of the home
Creating a glamour/ward of the home utilizing water and specific herbs
Using particular oils to draw sigils on windows and/or doors
Creating wards out of objects that are often in your home.
Finishing the Feast - Recipes
I talked briefly at the beginning of this post about some recipes that could be used during this day, so here are a few that I found to utilize as celebrations of L'epifania.
