Befana.

She's a little bit like Santa Claus, in fact she's a lot like Santa Claus, the only difference being her mode of transport and date of arrival.

I just go home from short break with friends on the chilly side of the globe and it's so nice to back to in the heat even though I'm missing them all dearly! On the night of the 5th I was staying with friends the in Salerno (Southern Italy)- we ventured to Napoli for dinner and there the streets were lined with people selling stockings, sweets and childrens toys in preparation for La Befana's visit the night before the Epiphany feast. Some toy stores were open late, with queues! for those less organised parents.

I was lucky enough, thanks to kind friends, to wake up the next morning to my own Befana stocking! (My friends pants with the legs tied which I thought was even better that the traditional sock) and boy I found a load! One huge vespa scooter toy, some potatoes (not sure if this is tradition or improvisation), fruit, handfuls and handfuls of sweets as well as my very own pieces of Befana coal. The joke was on me, I really thought the coal in my stocking/pants was coal and put it down beside my sweets before tucking in only to turn to my friend with the thing half in their mouth and crunching hard.

Behold, the amazing coal sweet!

 

I hope this post made some sense, I fear it hasn't at all. Anyway, Happy New Year everyone!