It’s not every day that you find yourself locked down in the midst of a global pandemic with a one-toothed puppet of Italy’s legendary La Befana, but through a mix of serendipitous circumstances, that some might call fate, I spent the pandemic living out an urban version of ancient Italian legend. For those who may not know, in Italian folklore, the Befana is an old woman who delivers gifts to children throughout Italy on Epiphany Eve (the night of January 5) in a similar way to Santa Claus or the Three Magi Kings.
The Global Pandemic seemed to serve as the precipitating factor that drove us all to search for a hero who would return us to “normal life”. The only problem was that I didn’t have any magical powers to save the world from darkness, all I had was a one toothed puppet and desire to spread a little bit of hope in a time of despair.
And one day as fate would have it, I passed a bus that was parked outside of the Salvation Army on Lenox and 135th that was handing out soup and resources to the area’s houseless population.
In spite of not having the La Befana puppet with me, I could clearly hear her voice in my head, “Dina stop! Go there!” So, I obliged. I awkwardly approached the community outreach director and told her I had a puppet that would like to volunteer to bring some cheer into the dark days of the lockdown.
Not being a professionally trained puppeteer, I was hesitant at first, but I couldn’t ignore this urge in me to bring this ancient Italian legend to life in the streets of New York.
So I bought La Befana a facemask and she soon became a regular volunteer at the City Relief bus. Guests looked forward to La Befana’s high fives and Italian cookies and were quite welcoming to this old crone from a foreign land.
The days that the bus blared out Soul music were La Befana’s favorites; that is when she and her friend in the walker would start dancing on the sidewalk, reminding all those passing by that though the bones may get brittle with age, Soul never dies.
Throughout the period when COVID cases overwhelmed hospitals, a nasty presidential election, an attempted coup in Washington–which coincidentally fell on La Befana’s holiday of all days–and street protests that illuminated our country’s deepest shadow, this puppet revealed to me just how beautiful the world can be when we live our lives in perpetual search of the Holy Child in every person we meet.
With so many people dispirited by political divisions, climate insecurity, the struggle for racial and gender equity, the lingering trauma of this pandemic and now the war in Ukraine–it is important to remember that underneath the noise of it all –renewal begins with us.
Dina Gregory is an inspirational speaker, teacher, community weaver, & reluctant puppeteer turned podcast host. She is the author of the lyrical memoir “Love at the Threshold”, “A Little Book of Questions”, and the creator and host of La Befana’s Table.
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