Befana,

Befana, a corruption of Epiphania (Epiphany), which name in Italy has become personified for children as a toy-bringing old woman called la Befana. She is a kind of female counterpart of the Wandering Jew and Santa Claus combined, and is employed as a kind of bugbear to frighten naughty children. According to the popular story, she was busy cleaning the house when the three wise men of the East passed by on their way to offer their treasures to the infant Saviour, and when called to the window to see them, she said she could do so when they returned. They went home by another way, and she has ever since been watching for their return. On Twelfth Night she brings good children toys and sweetmeats, but bad children only find their stockings full of ashes. It was also customary in Italy, on the evening before the Epiphany (5th January), to carry an effigy called the befana in procession through the streets amid great rejoicings, but this has fallen greatly into disuse.