The Befana comes at night with broken shoes ...
So reads the opening words of a nursery rhyme Italian on the day of Epiphany , January 6 of each year.
Let's do some history on the day of the Epiphany , it derives from epifaneia greek term which means appearance, hence pifania and then Bethany and last witch .
There are several legends about the origin of the witch and the fact that he chose January 6th day when the three wise men brought gifts to Jesus, but at this time is not important, not for this article.
The festival is a celebration purely Italian and tells the story of a good witch but poor and very bad that night between the 5th and January 6th brings sweets to good children and coal to bad ones.
In the tradition of Italian witches are always ugly, over the centuries, however, the witch wishes , but this was turned into another .
The witch was identified with any ugly woman, in countries were therefore wishes to all the elderly, notoriously bad and even the ugly of the country, mainly to tease, to humiliate them.
Then they became best wishes for all the wives and women in general, at the bottom of every woman is a witch said the boy.
But the women who did not previously have a big power even to speak, first subjugated by their fathers and then by their husbands or sons, in the twentieth century rebelled and best wishes were no longer allowed .
Every year the Italian women their best wishes, but only they are allowed, no man can and must do his best wishes to a woman for the witch, this for a very simple matter, women are remembered once a year as the men treat them for the remaining 364 .
Are granted wishes for the religious feast of the Magi is celebrated in Italy, but never ever a man can wish for a woman "Congratulations to the Befana" are inconvenient, as sexist and impolite, not even their husbands or children can do or fathers.
Rashna
P.S. I apologize if evado a bit ' publication today was the day of phishing , there will be next week ... ;)