Dea Strenia

This Goddess is viewed as the pre-christian origin of La Befana. Strenia was a Sabine Goddess of strength and endurance. She had a temple on the Via Sacra and was honored at the start of the new year. Emperors would receive gifts at Her temple and the monies collected were used for the upkeep and expansion of the public temples of the Roman state.


From the book Vestiges of Ancient Manners and Customs, Discoverable in Modern Italy and Sicily by Rev. John J. Blunt (John Murray, 1823):

"This Befana appears to be heir at law of a certain heathen goddess called Strenia, who presided over the new-year's gifts, 'Strenae,' from which, indeed, she derived her name. Her presents were of the same description as those of the Befana—figs, dates, and honey. Moreover her solemnities were vigorously opposed by the early Christians on account of their noisy, riotous, and licentious character."

From the book Domestic Life in Palestine, by Mary E. Rogers (Poe & Hitchcock, 1865)::

"An 'Essay on the Fine Arts,' by E. L. Tarbuck, led me to believe that this custom is a relic of pagan worship, and that the word "Bastrina" refers to the offerings which used to be made to the goddess Strenia. We could hardly expect that the pagans who embraced Christianity could altogether abandon their former creeds and customs. Macaulay says, "Christianity conquered paganism, but paganism infected Christianity; the rites of the Pantheon passed into her 'worship, and the subtilties of the Academy into her creed.' Many pagan customs were adopted by the new Church. T. Hope, in his 'Essay on Architecture,' says: 'The Saturnalia were continued in the Carnival, and the festival with offerings to the goddess Strenia was continued in that of the New Year…'"

From The Roman Forum: a topographical study:

"The Roman antiquaries inform us that the term Sacred Way is applicable to a road leading from the Sacellum (chapel) of the Goddess Strenia, in or near the Carinae, to the Capitoline citadel..."

Christmas and epiphany gifts in Italy are still called strenae .  

Here we have a Sabine Goddess (remember il rapimento delle sabine?) who is honored at the start of the year with gifts of sweets and boughs from Her sacred grove and with money. It's not a leap to surmise Her worship was continued as La Befana, or as the personification of La Epifania. 


^{This Friday I'll be exchanging strenae with Family, making a donation of money in Her name, donating shoes and coats, and sharing the vegan struffles I'm making for the occasion!}

Hiding in plain sight.

I typically enjoy reading Jason Miller's blog posts, but one from the other day has irritated me. This has been my first opportunity to sit down and address it. I would easily shrug off the comment, but besides having heard him say it before in workshop presentations, it reflects part of the inspiration for starting this blog: To counter the disparaging and dismissal of Italic Pagan traditions as nothing more than reinvention as opposed to a continuation, or, as he implied with his comment, a whole other tradition, namely catholicism.

Mr. Miller made the claim, in support of his leanings towards Christianity and magical justification thereof, that "actual Italian Strega [are] (almost all Catholic)." It is more accurate to say, as one of my cohorts put it: Catholics are practicing a modified form of Stregheria. It's even more accurate to say that Catholics took the old religion, edited it, slapped some paint on it, changed the names and called it not just the new way, but the only way.

They commandeered our sacred sites, our statues, our symbols, our tools, our costumes and assimilated our Gods and our festivals, yet the only "actual" practitioners of Italian Witchcraft are Catholic? For years I turned my back on my family tradition because I was angry that they hid behind this more accepted* veneer. I was too young to understand that they were keeping themselves safe. They also had a way to teach the basic tenets and traditions to family members. Those who could handle it were brought into the family proper

*I said "more" accepted because, well, remember the reformation? Catholics were accused of exactly what I've just said- being Roman Pagan Cult: The Next Generation. Even today, some of the best web sites and books out there regarding how very Pagan catholicism is have been written by christians who oppose the Roman catholic church and its Pagan practices.

I decorate an evergreen and exchange gifts beneath it in the name of Nimrud and Saturn and hang stockings on the hearth in honor of La Befana and Vesta and Hestia and Odin. I sing carols and hymns regaling the birth of the savior, the sun, the Lord. So do many Pagans. Are we celebrating christmas? NO! The christians are celebrating the ancient festivals.

Our ways survive today thanks to the fact that our ancestors hid in plain sight throughout the ages and that the festivals and traditions couldn't be suppressed so they were renamed and accepted. They might have succeeded in changing the names, but they did not change the spirit.

Tomorrow is the Feast of Santa Lucia, allegedly an early church martyr, but previously celebrated as the Goddess who midwifes the about-to-be-reborn sun into the world. The feast is a reminder that it is She who guides us through the darkness with her flaming crown of stars. To say that because I celebrate and venerate this feast day with my family under the same of Santa Lucia, or that because I celebrate and venerate the Archangel Michael means I am practicing Catholicism is silly. Each of these beings predates christianity by thousands of years. On the other hand, to say that because we do not go to Church or take communion or call ourselves "catholic" means we're not "actual" Strega is equally silly to the point of being insulting.

Are some Strega Catholic? I'm sure there are some who consider themselves Catholic. We learn what we learn how we learn it. For some people it's easier to speak the language they grew up hearing. However, that it not true for everyone. Here is an excerpt from Leo Martello's Weird Ways of Witchcraft. The quote is from part of a discussion with "Maria," an "actual Strega" whose family posed as catholic. Later in the book she discusses how she still goes to church to keep up appearances:

One of my cousins is an ordained priest. He entered the priesthood to better serve our cause, following the ancient adage: 'If you can't beat an enemy, join him. There are many of us in the underground who are known as practicing Catholics. It's for this reason that my cousin was able to become a priest. He was brought up in parochial schools.
 

They taught him one thing. We taught him the truth.

Truth is, stories like these abound in Italian Witch families. Truth is, I think we're tired of being disparaged.


Tomorrow: The Feast of Lucia!!!!!!!!!!

La Befana!

"b?" "p?" "v?" Makes no difference to an Italian. 

La Epifania is the name of the holiday... An Italian saying it in dialect? La Befana isn't a stretch...

Do a quick web search and you'll find the wiki entry for the "modern" version of the La Befana story. The christianized version is basically: The 3 Magi are wandering, following the infamous star. They somehow find themselves in Italy and knock on a old woman's door. They tell her they're off see baby Jesus and are bringing gifts, does she want to go with them. She says no, but when she changes her mind it's too late, they've already gone ahead. To make up for it, she goes around giving gifts to all children she comes across in case that's the one they were looking for.

But where did this come from? You don't have to search much to find out:

Ovid, in his work, The fasti, has a Q & A session with Janus. When asked why given gifts of fruit, dates, pure honey and a coin to start off the new year, Janus replies that it's to start the year off both sweet, and prosperous. The gifts were called Strenae- the New Year's Gifts, Janus rules that which is new- that first moment, the threshold and crossing through it.

In Vestiges of ancient manners and customs discoverable in modern Italy and Sicily (which was written in the 1820's) talks about a celebration he witnessed in Florence which included: People running around that eve dressed in "burlesque costumes" with torches in hand, singing, shouting and blowing glass horns. The author even notes a book I can't find about Dea Strenia.

My family has always celebrated New Year's Eve by dressing up (not just fancy dress, but after midnight, the women would dress up in the men's clothing, pretend to smoke cigars, paint on mustaches, etc), blow horns, ring bells, shout and party and have sweet foods (desert) as the first food of the new year. This often included a fruit bowl and struffles, aka honey balls. The celebration might have been a bit toned down this year (I didn't dress up in hubby's clothes), but things haven't changed all that much!


La Befana vien di notte
con le scarpe tutte rotte
con le toppe alla sottana:
Viva, viva la Befana!