La Befana e L'Epifania!

L'Epifania...tutte le feste porta via!

On January 6, the 3 Wise Men visited the baby Jesus paying him homage with gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  My Italian grandmother used to take down her Christmas tree calling it Little Christmas.  In Italy, The Epiphany signals the end of the Christmas season with a witch, La Befana (possibly a mispronunciation of L'Epifania).  Well, she's an old, ugly woman with old, tattered Roman clothes and broken shoes.  She rides around on her broomstick like a horse.  And the children have to be in bed when she arrives; she doesn't like to be seen or else the children will get coal.  She'll bring little toys, trains, dolls, mandarins, and other fruit to the children who were good and ash and coal to those who weren't.  But nowadays, there is a "coal" candy made from black sugar that parents will put in their child's stocking along with toys.

La Befana's story is entangled with the 3 Wise Men and has been celebrated at least since the 13th Century whereas Babbo Natale, Santa Claus, arrived in Italy in World War 2.  I've read that the 3 Wise Men had asked Befana to come along to pay homage to Baby Jesus but she was too busy cleaning or she was too heartbroken after losing a child.  Only later she changes her mind, follows the star, but arrives too late.  The Holy Family has already left for Egypt.  Then the gifts she had brought for Baby Jesus she then distributes to good little boys and girls around possibly still looking for Baby Jesus. 

But as Christianity started in the context of the Pagan Roman environment where many early Christian traditions were borrowed from them.  Historians believe that the legend may derive from the Sabine (a pre-Roman Italic tribe of central Italy) and later as adopted by the Romans, the  goddess Strina/Strenua.  She was a goddess of the New Year, purification, and well-being.  She safeguarded youth by providing health and strength.   Strina was an elderly goddess.


In Italy, children put out stockings for Befana on the evening of the 5th...and they also leave glasses of wine and cookies!   And when she leaves, she sweeps the floor behind her because she likes cleaning, and she may have also been a housekeeper.  And it may also signal sweeping away problems of the year.

While the holiday from work is nice as well as the stories and tradition of La Befana, what I really like the closure to the holiday.  Today is the day to relax, spend time with family and friends, and above all, put your Christmas decorations away.  The Christmas Season has, once again, ended.   

The next holiday:  Carnevale! 

But until then, Buona Befana!



                    











Sources:  https://journeyingtothegoddess.wordpress.com/tag/strina/
http://www.stylecoven.com/post/14018623062/the-italian-christmas-witch-la-befana
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strenua
http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/yuletraditions/p/La-Befana.htm
http://carminesuperiore.blogspot.it/2009/01/la-befania-epiphany-twelfth-night.html

Poetry for Pizza

While reading an introduction of a B&B in Siracusa in Italian (Bed and Breakfast dei Viaggiatori, Viandandi e Sognatori, www.bedandbreakfastsicily.it), it struck me half way down the page that it was not only flowery but also romantic...something you would never see in the US in a description of a hotel.  But that's relfected throughout Italian culture, an emphasis and importance of style and presentation. 

While stopping over in Naples on my way back to Milan, I found a Tripadvisor and Google recommended pizzeria, a tiny hole in the wall that I almost missed, a few blocks from my hotel near Centrale (yes! for my 6:10am train), Pizzeria da Gaetano, via Casanova 109.    I got the DOP pizza with mozzarella bufala (from the Italian water buffalo), basil, and tomato, and it was good!  6.50€  Mac enjoyed it, too.  The wine was tasty as well, Rosso Rubino, Cantine Carannante, from Campania.

Near the end of my meal, I relaxed and studied the place better.  There were framed photos on the wall, maybe some certifications/authorizations from the city, and then....poetry.  About what?  What else:  how good Gaetano's pizza is in Neapolitan dialect.

Side note:  Gaetano comes from the Latin name, Caietanus, which meant "from Caieta" (a town) which is modern day Gaeta on the coast in Lazio.  The anglicized form is Cajetan.  

(Rough translations to be completed later)

To the Pizza

A beautiful pizza for all of this city, only Sir Gaetano knows how to do it. He seems to me to be a master, how much I love this meal while resting on my balcony singing this song:  Ta, fa, ca, tomatoes (?), ta fa ca, mozzarella, filled with marinara....and he does all of the flavors, and the rare ones, too, as you like, it bids you to eat, just prepared, put into the oven, and in 4 to 8 minutes a pizza is cooked and ready to serve!

Friends for...the Pizza!

A pizza is Gaetano's special song...I come to him, the genius, and I eat at almost any hour, so good, so flavorful, so succulent....I give you compliment!

To the Real Pizza

For you eating the pizza keeps your stomach healthy....you'll find a tasty and beautiful pizza...you can eat the rich capriccosa or for you he'll make what you prefer, and you can taste the beautiful margherita...

As I mentioned, this translation is in progress, in allestimento.  I'll update it later after getting some help on translating the Neapolitan.  Until then...what poetry would you write about your favorite pizzeria?  Or your favorite restaurant or food?