The narrow streets of Barga Vecchia this evening were full of shuffling, scruffy, well aged and generally dirty looking specimens of humanity and all where having a singularly wonderful time – the Befana and her Befanotti were celebrating.
Nobody is really sure of how or when this tradition started but for generations on the evening of January 5th, groups of people dressed up as the Befana and her badly dressed followers – the Befanotti would move from house to house singing the praises of the Befana.
One line of thought is that the custom started when some shrewd desperate low life characters worked out that begging dressed in false beards, inside out jackets and faces smeared with soot pretending to be Befanotti actually bought better rewards.
The song they sing does end in asking for gifts, usually food which is then shared out amongst the Befanotti at the end of the evening.
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httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GViiNnt_-pw
From the barganews archives – The traditional song la befana is sung in Aristos bar in barga vecchia Barga Tuscany 2007
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