The Befana brought me pre-birthday fun!

Yay! Andrea's the greatest!

We got up early and drove the hour or so towards Ancona, where he surprised me at our final destination: The Frasassi Grotto, one of the largest and oldest (120 million years...I asked Andrea if he brought me there to make me feel younger...) group of stalagmite and stalagtite caves in Europe. It was breathtaking (see photo above) and we had an amazing time. Then we went out to lunch in a nearby town (tartufo, tartufo, tartufo!) and headed home. It was the perfect pre-birthday day.

A day of fun surprises perfectly planned in theme for today's Italian holiday, called the "Befana". Befana is a legendary female gift giver (a witch of sorts); the story is told that Befana, a very old and decrepit woman, refused to interrupt her household duties long enough to accept the invitation of the Magi to accompany them on their journey to find the baby Jesus.

However, after the Magi left, Befana had a change of heart and at dawn went in search of the Wisemen. She had prepared a basket of food for the journey and added toys and gifts for baby Jesus. She was unable to find the Wisemen, but she distributed her gifts along the way.

Nowadays in Italy, the Befana is celebrated on January 6th, the Catholic Epiphany. Her arrival (during the night, bringing stockings full of either coal or sweets...I got some of each...) marks the last day of the feste, or the holiday season.