Ding Dong, the Christmas Witch
Charlotte Booth • 28 December 2020
The European Christmas Witch
So, when I lived in Italy, I was thoroughly confused by plastic Christmas witches for sale everywhere. This delightful elderly lady was Befana, who delivers gifts to children on the night before Epiphany (January 5th). The name Befana is thought to have originated from the Italian mispronunciation of the Greek word Epifania (Epiphany).
If they are good the children will have their socks filled with yummy sweets, but if they are naughty she will give them a lump of coal or a stick in Sicily. As a particular houseproud visitor it is thought that Befana also sweeps the floor before she leaves – shame she doesn’t visit the UK, as we’ve had builders in for a while and I can’t keep on top of the mud and dust! In reality most children receive a lump of coal (candy coloured black with caramel) to acknowledge that no child is perfect and has their off days.
Befana travels around Italy on a broomstick, carrying a sack or hamper full of sweets for the children. She enters the home via the chimney where at the bottom of which the family leave her a glass of wine and some snacks.
Origins of Befana
So where does the idea of a Christmas witch come from?
According to one legend Befana was approached by the three wise men a few days before the birth of Christ, and they asked her for directions. Although she didn’t know the way to the main event, as the best housekeeper in the village she asked them to stay over for the night. In gratitude they then asked her to join them on their journey to the baby Jesus. She declined as she had too much to do in her home, but later changed her mind.
She packed a bag of baked goods, and a broom for the virgin mother to sweep the stable. She tried to catch up with the wise men but couldn’t find them so 2000 years later she is still flying around looking for baby Jesus. She leaves a gift for all good children as she believes Christ is in all children.
Annual Festivities
Urbania, just east of Florence is thought to be the ‘home’ of Befana, even though she is part of Christmas festivities all over Italy. Every year in Urbania there is a Befana festival between the 2nd and 6th January where as many as 50,000 people attend, many dressed as the loveable Christmas witch.
Another Christmas Witch
In Bavaria and Austria, Perchta or Bertha, is a lot less benign than Befana, and is more in line with Krampus. Perchta the Christmas witch enters homes throughout the twelve days of Christmas, especially on the twelfth night. She was able to identify which children had been good and leaves them a little silver coin in a shoe or a pail.
However, she was a bit more hardcore with the naughty kids and was particularly judgemental about whether the young girls had spun all their allotted flax by the twelfth night. With the naughty children, and lazy spinners Perchta gutted them, removed their internal organs and replaced them with pebbles and straw.
She roams about Bavaria with a group of Perchten – an army of servants who resemble Krampus as well as souls of unbaptised children to carry out the Wild Hunt. On the twelfth night if you hear any noises it could be Perchta and her merry Perchten and it is best to stay inside and hide under the bed.
In order to placate Perchta families leave food and drink for her but if you haven'y spun all your flax and have a messy house it may not cut much slack.
I would love it if the UK had some more sinister Christmas traditions, or at least brought some back, like the Tudor Mummers for example. With Santa rewarding all good and naughty children, there is no punishment or threat for bad behaviour. Kids know they'll get gifts regardless. If you knew Krampus or Perchta was on their way if you were bad you may check your behaviour through the year.
There is nothing more amusing than checking out mediaeval artistic renditions of lions and other heraldic creatures. These beasts, grimacing and gurning are a strange juxtaposition of human, animal and demon and as far from the cute image of Alex from the Madagascar franchise or in fact a real lion as you could possibly get. There are three main reasons mediaeval lions are so ‘bad’ and un-representational; The artists were following a very tight brief. Some of the artists may never have seen a lion, and were following the descriptions they were given. These lions were representing heraldic principals of bravery, nobility and authority; all very human characteristics. When viewed through this lens it becomes more understandable why they look the way they do, but they are still ‘not right’ and not a great tool for learning about lions. Generative AI is very similar to an uninformed but talented mediaeval artist. There is a element of intelligence but at the end of the day it is following a brief, with no actual ‘knowledge’ of the thing it is producing. As an example, if you prompt your generative AI (ChatGPT and the like) to produce a blog for your new product or service, aimed at your ideal customer avatar you will in all likelihood get a mediaeval lion out the other end. Sort of recognisable, and sort of not. This is because AI doesn’t know what a customer is (ideal or otherwise), has no idea what your product or service is and does, and has no true understanding of how this service or product will serve your ideal customer and their needs. Of course, AI is pulling all the information available from the internet to help with its answer but there is no understanding there. There is no determining fact from falsehoods or even which websites are trustworthy and which are not. So, it skims the internet and puts together content which suits the brief as it understands it. This is then when the actual work should start as this content shouldn’t be used in the raw. It should be edited and tweaked by a human who DOES understand the brief, has been a customer (ideal or otherwise) and can imagine what your ideal customer will feel when using your product or services. We are in a world now, where we have generative AI promoting products and services to humans, when it has no concept of what a human is and how it thinks, meaning the marketing department are in fact more important than ever for ensuring content and copy is aimed at humans and human emotions. You could argue that the world would be a more entertaining place if there were more mediaeval lions in it, but it wouldn’t be a great environment for learning, or for basing purchasing decisions on. If you want to maintain the human element in your content, then I would love to help . Explain the brief, your CTA and your ideal client and I will know what I need to ask to get a clear idea before writing. Then you can rest assured your content was written by a human for a human and we can leave the mediaeval lions to the museums.
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