Thanks to global warming La Befana is going to have to navigate through some strange old weather as she visits the children in Abruzzo tonight to celebrate Epiphany – the 3 King greeting of the new born Jesus celebrated in Catholic countries on the 6th January.
La Befana doing a dawn summer run in Bascianella
For those who have never heard of La Befana before, she is a witch, sorceress, or think Macbethian old crone, whizzing across the Italian countryside on her broomstick on the night of the 5th January. Children hang up stockings next to the chimney, her entrance to their house, which she whooshes down and leaves gifts depending on their behaviour; she leaves lumps of coal, and onion and garlic for the naughty (still obviously a gift though, bringing warmth and the means to fight off winter colds) and for the virtuous sweeties & small gifts.
She’s one famous witch who has become a noted eco-warrior due to her green method of transport – no methane producing reindeers, recycled rags for clothing and who only needs some bread soaked in wine to facilitate her passage through the night. What a cool crone!
For a brilliant article on La Befana’s pagan and cultural history read – The Befana Tradition
Sammy Dunham is a web marketing consultant, designing websites & writing copy to optimise web presence for her clients at 
Now if I was in Abruzzo today, I'd quite like to hop on a bus to Rome and see the snow clad Colosseum 
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