Tonight, She Flies!

Tonight, la Befana flies! January 6 is her night.

La Befana is Italy's Christmas witch. The story goes that la Befana was a little old lady who lived in a little cottage in the woods. She was an exceptional housekeeper and knew it. She also had magic powers and could talk to the animals and birds in the forest. A very self-satisfied queen of the forest, she was.

One day, three men knocked on her door. They said they were lost, looking for the baby Jesus. La Befana didn't know where the baby was but invited the three men to spend the night at her cottage. Such a gracious hostess she was, and kept such a clean and charming home.

The next day, the three men resumed their journey and invited la Befana to join their search for the baby Jesus. But la Befana declined, saying she had too much work to do. After all, she had to clean up after her guests. The three wise men went on their way, la Befana cleaned up. She was a bit of a buffoon that way, hence her name, Befana.

Later, la Befana wondered if she had made the right choice. She decided she hadn't. This was her Epiphany. So she set off after the men in search of the baby Jesus. Alas, she could find no trace of the wise men. She decided she would look for the baby on her own. So she got on her broom and flew looking around.

La Befana flew down the chimney of every house where a child lived and left a present in the child's stocking, just in case that was the baby Jesus.

Over the years, her story evolved. She leaves behind candies and presents for children who had been good, and lumps of coal for children who had been bad.

That's right. La Befana is Italy's female Saint Nicholas, who was an old man with a walking stick and a sack before Coca Cola turned him into a jolly fat fellow in a red suit.

This year, our Befana hag choir was filmed by Omni TV during our preparation for Winter Solstice. Four of us were interviewed for an Italian news program. Tonight, being the night of la Befana, Omni TV aired the feature. I missed it. So Befana. But I am told I look great in it. I am told they dubbed me so Italian comes out of my mouth! I want to see whether they kept in the part where the interviewer called me the Chinese Befana.

Now we will use our magic to make the TV station to give us the news clip.