HAPPY⭐️EPIPHANY. On the night between January 5th and 6th, twelve days after the birth of baby Jesus, the three Wise Men brought gifts to the manger. Today, in the Western world, the Befana brings sweets and coal to the homes of all children on the same night. But "epiphany" is not just the last day of the Christmas holidays. This word, in fact, has its roots in ancient Greece and still carries with it a very profound meaning.
For many in the Western world, Epiphany represents the end of the Christmas period, the last day of holidays, the one in which you can wake up late but also have to prepare to go back to school or work in the middle of the new year. It's the moment when you deal with the tasks still to be done, the extra pounds accumulated during binges, the emails to send as soon as you turn the office computer back on. For many children, the epiphany also represents the arrival of an old lady riding a broom who fills a stocking with sweets and gifts. But not only that: in the Christian tradition, this name is traced back to the adoration and gifts of the Three Wise Men for baby Jesus, but also to his baptism and his first miracle. In short, the epiphany brings with it various meanings and various traditions, often different from culture to culture.
Epiphany is a Christian holiday celebrated twelve days after Christmas, i.e. on January 6th. The term derives from Greek, and literally means "manifestation", in fact it was anciently used to indicate the moment in which the Gods manifested their presence through a sign of any kind. Later, also thanks to James Joyce and his Dubliners, the term epiphany took on the meaning of illumination, interior revelation, a fundamental moment in a person's life in which he acquires important awareness.
In the Christian tradition, initially, in addition to the adoration of the baby Jesus by the Magi, his baptism by John the Baptist and his first miracle at the wedding at Cana were also traced back to the epiphany, i.e. the first two episodes through which he would manifest his divine nature in adulthood. Today, in the Western world, this term indicates only the coming and adoration of the little Savior by the Three Wise Men, even if in Italy the day is commonly associated with the arrival of the Befana who, with baby Jesus, has practically no nothing to do.
So what does the Befana have to do with the epiphany? Not much actually. So much so that the name of the old lady who, riding a broom, brings gifts to the children of the world, leaving them in a sock hanging from the fireplace, is nothing more than a distortion of the name of the celebration. His arrival is expected on the night between 5 and 6 January, i.e. the night of the epiphany and, to connect these two events, a legend tells that the Three Wise Men, on the way to the manger where baby Jesus was, they asked an old woman for directions, insisting that she go with them to bring gifts to the Savior. She said no, but soon after she regretted it and prepared a basket of gifts, knocking on all the children's doors and leaving them sweets and gifts because she couldn't find baby Jesus. From that day on, during the night of the epiphany, the old lady brings sweets and gifts to the children of the world to make amends.
The befana is represented as a hunched and grumpy old lady (in fact "befana" is, in common language, a colloquial epithet to define a very unpleasant woman) with a long nose and a pointed chin, dressed in rags, with a worn shawl and broken shoes, who travels the world on a broomstick, a bit like a witch. She leaves gifts and sweets for children who have been good during the previous year, while coal and onions for those who have behaved badly.
The epiphany in the world is celebrated in various ways and through different symbols and traditions based on the culture of reference, such as the star of Bethlehem, the arrival of the Befana with gifts, the lighting of auspicious fires, popular festivals, the exchange of gifts brought by the Magi themselves. In some countries, a dessert is even prepared and a figurine of one of the Magi is inserted into it. In short, every country and every culture experiences the epiphany according to its own tradition and interpretation of it.
Daniele Zordan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgPsiOQRqyg
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