Befana "Viene, viene la Befana"<br> "Vien dai monti a notte fonda"<br> "Come è stanca! la circonda "<br> "Neve e gelo e tramontana!"<br> "Viene, viene la Befana"<br> The English translation is: "Here comes, here comes the Befana"<br> "She comes from the mountains in the deep of the night"<br> "Look how tired she is! All wrapped up"<br> "In snow and frost and the north wind!" <br> "Here comes, here comes the Befana!"<br> Befana In Italian folklore, Befana () is an old woman who delivers gifts to children throughout Italy on Epiphany Eve (the night of January 5) in a similar way to St
Befana the name Befana is derived from the Italians' mispronunciation of the Greek word "epifania" or "epiphaneia" (Greek, επιφάνεια = appearance, surface, English: epiphany). Others point to the name being a derivative of Bastrina, the gifts associated with the goddess Strina. In the book "Domestic Life in Palestine", by Mary E. Rogers (Poe & Hitchcock, 1865) the author notes: A theory connects the tradition of exchanging gifts to an ancient Roman festivity in honour of Ianus and Strenia (in Italian a Christmas gift used to be called "strenna"), celebrated at the beginning of the year, when Romans used to give each