84: La Befana: The Old Woman of Epiphany & the Goddess Beneath Her Broom

In this episode, we explore the enchanting Italian figure of La Befana, the winter witch who sweeps across the night sky on Epiphany Eve, delivering gifts, blessings, and quiet wisdom. Far more than a quaint holiday character, La Befana is an ancient echo of pre-Christian goddesses of hearth, liminality, and renewal, a crone spirit who holds the threshold between the old year and the new. We trace her story from the familiar tale of the wandering Magi, who once knocked on her door seeking the Christ child, to older roots in Roman tradition where women like her, broom-bearing, hearth-tending, keeper of the household fire, once embodied the presence of the divine feminine in everyday life. Along the way, we'll explore how La Befana’s soot-smudged face and patched clothing symbolize the wisdom of the elder, the courage of imperfection, and the magical work of tending what others overlook.

You’ll discover how this “good witch” became beloved across Italy, why she brings both sweets and lumps of coal, and what her broom truly symbolizes: the clearing of stagnant energy, the sweeping away of misfortune, and the blessing of every threshold she crosses.

We will also delve into her possible connection to the ancient Sabine goddess Strenua, a forgotten deity of health, strength, and New Year purification whose festival once enlivened the streets of ancient Rome. From her sacred laurel procession to her role in inspiring the tradition of New Year’s gifts, Strenua forms a powerful ancestral thread that may well run beneath La Befana’s patched skirts.

This episode blends folklore, history, goddess lore, and spiritual reflection to illuminate La Befana not merely as a figure of children’s stories, but as a wise guide of the liminal season, a keeper of renewal, and an elder archetype who blesses the turning of the year with generosity, humor, and magic.

By the end, you may find yourself looking at brooms differently… and perhaps sensing that on a cold January night, an old woman wrapped in shawls might still be sweeping her way through the winter stars.