圣诞节在世界各地：意大利 - Christmas Around the World: Italy

它是主显节的前夕，魔法的夜晚 - 什么事情都可能发生。孩子们在这个晚上睡觉是非常困难的。但现在他们在床上紧紧地卷起来，梦想着令人兴奋的早晨来。丝袜，空和等待，挂在火上。一切安静;房子很静。

在黑暗的冬天的天空，一个奇怪的身影像风飞翔。短暂的一刻，它映衬在月亮上。该图在其飞行中暂停，然后迅速地潜水。 Whoosh！下来的烟囱它弹出。快速地，它检查以确保孩子们睡着了。放心，它刺破haply，因为它填充了袜子从膨胀袋。

这是一个女巫！她非常，非常老，弯曲，穿黑色衣服。她的白发长得很长，她的鼻子挂了，她骑着扫帚。她的名字是Befana，她，不是圣诞老人，传统上给意大利的孩子带来礼物。

Befana每年在1月6日拜访她，每年三王向伯利恒的新生儿基督孩子提供黄金，乳香和没药的礼物。



It is the eve of Epiphany, the night of magic--when anything can happen. It is terribly hard for children to go to sleep on this night. But now they are tucked snugly in bed, dreaming of the exciting morning to come. Stockings, empty and waiting, hang by the fire. Everything is quiet; the house is very still.

Across the dark winter sky a strange figure flies like the wind. For a brief moment it is silhouetted against the moon. The figure pauses in its flight, then dives swiftly earthward. Whoosh! Down the chimney it pops. Quickly, it checks to make sure the children are sound asleep. Reassured, it cackles haply as it fills the stockings from a bulging sack.

It is a witch! She is very, very old and bent, dressed all in black. Her white hair is long and straggly, her nose is hooked, and she rides a broomstick. Her name is Befana and she, not Santa Claus, traditionally brings gifts to the children of Italy.

Befana pays her annual visit on January 6, the date when the Three Kings offered their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the newborn Christ Child in Bethlehem.