Befana the New Year, called Giubiana in Northern Italy, with clear Celtic origins. Italian anthropologists Claudia and Luigi Manciocco, in their book "Una casa senza porte" ("A House without Doors") trace Befana's origins back to Neolithic beliefs and practices. The team of anthropologists also wrote about Befana as a figure that evolved into a goddess associated with fertility and agriculture. Befana also maintains many similarities with Perchta and her Pre-Christian Alpine traditions. The Befana is celebrated throughout all of Italy, and has become a national icon. In the regions of the Marches, Umbria and Latium, her figure is associated with the
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