La Befana, the Christmas Witch

I forgot to publish this one too! There have been some senior moments lately...........


Here's her story:

La Befana was an old lady living long ago during the first century in a little house on a hill in Italy. She once had a husband and a child but at the time of her story she lived alone and spent her time cleaning her house and baking.

One night, she noticed a bright light in the sky and later that same night, while she was tidying her house and getting ready to go to bed there was a knock on the door. When she answered it, she saw three well-dressed, rich looking men standing on the step. “Hello Granny,” they said, “sorry to disturb you. We have journeyed a long way. We wondered if you knew the way to Bethlehem, where the child who is to be the new king has been born.” “I know nothing about that, I do not know that place” replied La Befana. “I have no idea what you are talking about”. The three men told La Befana the story of the child born to be king and save the world. “Granny, we are on our way to honour the new king. If you wish, you can come with us” they said. La Befana replied “I'm far too busy to go off a wild goose chase with you, but thank you” and she closed the door.

Later, La Befana thought of how she missed her own child and wondered if she had made a mistake. She really didn't want to miss out on something that might be important, so she packed a sack with that day's baking and gifts for the child, took her broom to help the new mother and went out to catch up with the three men. Although she searched and searched for hours she could not find them and she was soon lost and very tired. As La Befana gazed at the bright star in the sky and wished that she could see the child and then find her way home angels appeared from the star and, on this night of miracles, gave La Befana the gift of flight. Thankfully she mounted her broom and set off again. She searched and searched for the special child. She didn't find him and now, every year on the night of the fifth of January La Befana goes out searching again. She stops at the house of every child and she leaves treats for the good ones and lumps of coal for those who were bad.

And my interpretation:

Better late than never - The Holly Mother

I didn't think it had been quite so long since I wrote in this blog. I forgot to publish a couple of posts!

This one came from my imagination.

This is what I told two little boys that visited my stall the one weekend while their parents were getting coffee and cakes.

This is the Holly Mother. She looks after all the little Holly Elves and Holly Sprites. The Holly Elves ae boys and the Holly Sprites are girls. They sleep all through the Spring and Summer, and they wake up when the apples  begin to ripen and the berries and rose hips start to turn red. They ive in the holly bushes and trees, where we cannot see them and they eat nuts and berries. The Holly Elves, being boys, hardly ever wash themselves or brush their hair so they are always up and about first. The Sprites, being girls, take ages to get ready.

The Holly Elves and Sprites are at their busiest in December, when we are all getting ready for Christmas. They creep up to the windows at night to look at all the shiny decorations and the Christmas trees in our houses. Sometimes, if they can get into the house; through a crack, or perhaps a mousehole, they wait until everyone has gone to bed and then they go right up to the Christmas tree for a really good look. They cannot resist the sugar mice, the candy canes or the chocolate tree ornaments, they are so much nicer then wrinkled berries and nuts.

 Sometimes they steal them, so perhaps we shouldn't always blame those naughty children!