Let's bid farewell to the holidays with sweetness

Unfortunately, like all good things, this magical time of year is coming to an end. To cheer ourselves up a bit, we want to share with you the recipe for a very special dessert typical of Apulia: Purcidduzzi. Our Cesarina Francesca from Copertino shows us how to prepare this Christmas treat, the true star of Apulian tables from the Feast of the Immaculate Conception until Saint Anthony’s Day on January 17.

“Preparing Purcidduzzi is already a celebration: days dedicated to making, frying, caramelizing with honey, and decorating in the most imaginative and creative ways. Children play a key role in shaping the small pieces of dough and, above all, in decorating the final dish. I remember my grandmother, a skilled seamstress, letting me shape them with her beloved thimble! Every family, every housewife, or cooking enthusiast has their own recipe, and this one is mine!”

The Feast of the Befana: a truly Italian celebration  

For Italian children, January 6 means one thing: the arrival of the Befana. Riding her broomstick, this old woman with a hooked nose and pointy chin, dressed in a patched skirt and worn-out shoes, flies through the skies and climbs down chimneys to fill children’s stockings with toys or coal, depending on whether they behaved well or poorly over the past year.  

It is a distinctly Italian holiday, so much so that in other countries—not even far from us, like France—the tradition of hanging stockings doesn’t exist, and January 6 isn’t even a public holiday.  

A figure between pagan and christian worlds  

In christian tradition, the story of the Befana is closely tied to the Three Wise Men. Legend has it that on a bitterly cold winter night, Balthasar, Caspar, and Melchior, unable to find their way to Bethlehem, asked an old woman for directions. She showed them the way, and the Magi invited her to join them, but she refused. Shortly after, she regretted her decision. After preparing a sack of sweets, she set out in vain to find them. The old woman began knocking on doors, giving sweets to the children she met in the hope that one of them was the Baby Jesus.  

The term "Befana" is derived from the Greek "Epiphany", meaning "manifestation", a reference to the days when, according to the Gospel, Jesus revealed himself publicly for the first time. 

Another interpretation connects the Befana to Roman folklore, particularly the festival in honor of the goddess Strenia, during which gifts were exchanged. This act of gift-giving is central to the holiday: in collective imagination, the Befana carries an enormous sack full of toys and candies for children, who leave her something to eat in return.  

But aside from gifts, her sack also contains coal, as all naughty children know! The image of coal also comes from ancient Roman customs: under Emperor Aurelian, during the twelve days following the Feast of the Sun (December 25), it became customary to burn an oak log, producing coal believed to bring good fortune. According to this interpretation, finding coal in your stocking isn’t so bad—it’s a sign of good luck!  

The image of the old woman flying through the sky on a broom is also linked to Roman traditions. In the nights following the winter solstice, celebrations of nature’s rebirth included beliefs in female figures flying over fields to bless future harvests. From this tradition, we get the Befana, flying through the skies in tattered clothes symbolizing the old year coming to an end.