And the Holidays continue here (in Italy) we are now coming to our last Holiday of the Christmas season- the Epiphany or La Befana..
La Befana, the good Christmas witch will fill your stockings with candies and fruits and little presents but if you have been bad she is more likely to fill your stocking with ‘carbone’ or coal.
As I have been continuing with excerpts from my upcoming book
The Basic Art of Italian Cooking-Holidays & Special Occasions (to be released in 2008)
Here is the chapter on La Befana;
I have had an unbelievable holiday season at my grandfather’s vineyard in
I still have one more holiday to celebrate- La Befana.
“La Befana e propria brava” ( roughly translated means: “the Befana is a wonderful person) said
Sofia continued recounting the story about how she had grown up overnight because La Befana came in the middle of the night to her room and took her pacifier and left her a stocking full of gifts-as it is customary to do for the Epiphany or La Befana Sofia is 3 ½ yrs old and her mother has been thinking of a way to get her to stop using her pacifier.
This holiday had come with perfect timing.
La Befana, (The Christmas Witch) or The Epiphany is celebrated in
La Befana is typically portrayed as a witch, only she is smiling and has a bag full of candy and gifts for good girls and boys. And like Santa Claus, she leaves behind “coal” for those who are bad. Except often, it’s a piece of hard rock candy instead!
There is a poem about La Befana, which is well-known throughout
La Befana vien di notte (La Befana comes at night)
Con le scarpe (With the broken shoes)
Tutte rotte vien vestita (She comes dressed in)
Alla romana (Peasant Roman style)
Viva, Viva La Befana! (Long live La Befana!)
The Basic Art of Italian Cooking also makes a great gift for La Befana or any Holiday..
You can still get a $5 discount off retail price and free shipping and handling if you order at https://www.marialiberati.com A portion of your purchase price goes to Gilda’s Club.
This text is priceless. When can I find out more?
bookmarked!!, I really like your blog!
First of all I would like to say terrific blog!
I had a quick question in which I’d like to ask if you do not mind. I was interested to find out how you center yourself and clear your mind prior to writing. I have had difficulty clearing my thoughts in getting my ideas out there. I truly do take pleasure in writing but it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are wasted just trying to figure out how to begin. Any ideas or tips? Thanks!
The best way to clear the clutter in your mind before you write is to be in a clutter free space with no unnecessary noises except for some Mozart playing quietly in the background. Mozart’s music has been proven to stimulate the brain..and Mozart is my creativity go to helper