La Befana—Italy’s Christmas Witch 義大利送禮的聖誕醜巫婆
精英翻譯社轉自https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0062/335676/web/
If you are good this year, maybe you’ll get a visit from the Christmas witch.
如果你今年很乖的話，也許聖誕巫婆就會拜訪你喔。
In most countries, the Christmas season ends on New Year’s Day. For Italians, Christmas lasts a bit longer, until January 6th. That’s when a holiday called the Epiphany takes place. It’s a day to celebrate when the Three Wise Men brought gifts to honor the baby Jesus. This is also the time when Italian children receive their Christmas presents. Their gifts don’t come from Santa Claus, though. Instead, an old witch named Befana delivers them.
在大多數國家，聖誕時節止於新年當天。但對於義大利人來說，聖誕節的時間會長一點，直到一月六日。這天就是一個稱為「主顯節」的節日來臨之時。慶祝這天的原因是在這天「三賢者」帶了禮物來榮耀聖嬰耶穌。這也是義大利孩童們收到聖誕禮物的日子。不過他們的禮物並非來自聖誕老人。相反地，禮物是由一位名為貝法娜的老巫婆遞送。
As the story goes, Befana let the Three Wise Men stay at her home. They told her they were on the way to see baby Jesus and invited Befana to come along and give gifts to Jesus. Befana had lots of cleaning to do, so she told them she was too busy. Afterwards, she felt guilty about not going to pay her respects. So, every year she flies around on her broom and leaves presents and candy for the good children of Italy. Bad children may only get a piece of coal, to remind them to be better next year. This year, if you see a witch flying around in January, don’t worry because it’s just Befana giving Santa Claus a hand.
在故事裡面，貝法娜讓這三位賢者待在她的家。他們告訴貝法娜他們正在前往探望聖嬰耶穌的路上，並邀請她同行給予耶穌禮物。貝法娜有很多清潔工作要做，所以她告訴他們她太忙了。之後，她對於沒有前往致敬而感到愧疚。因此，每年她都會騎著掃帚到處飛，帶給義大利的乖孩子們禮物及糖果。壞孩子只能拿到一塊木炭，用以提醒他們明年要表現更好。今年，如果你在一月看到一個巫婆到處飛，不用擔心，因為那只是貝法娜在幫聖誕老人送禮物。
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