{"id":8787,"date":"2019-12-15T08:03:58","date_gmt":"2019-12-15T13:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/?p=8787"},"modified":"2019-11-18T14:05:41","modified_gmt":"2019-11-18T19:05:41","slug":"la-befana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2019\/12\/15\/la-befana\/","title":{"rendered":"La Befana"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
The midland journal.<\/em> (Rising Sun, Md.), 20 Dec. 1940. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers<\/em>. Lib. of Congress. <https:\/\/chroniclingamerica.loc.gov\/lccn\/sn89060136\/1940-12-20\/ed-1\/seq-7\/<\/a>> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I do not usually read the newspaper anymore; nor do I watch mainstream news programming. I have a vague feeling that one of the original reasons for me turning away from traditional news media was the constant focus on lurid sensationalism, fear mongering, and general bad news. Yet, I have been spending plenty of time in the Chronicling America project<\/a>. Do news papers now-a-days have articles on holiday customs around the world? Do they have suggestions for your next Halloween party, and serialized stories about plucky youngsters in a fairyland adventure? ‘Cause that might get me back to reading newspapers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, La Befana is the Christmas witch of Italy (wikipedia<\/a>). This article from the Midland Journal<\/em> is just one variation of her legend. Like an old fashioned Santa Claus, she doles out presents and punishment as appropriate. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I do not usually read the newspaper anymore; nor do I watch mainstream news programming. I have a vague feeling that one of the original reasons for me turning away from traditional news media was the constant focus on lurid sensationalism, fear mongering, and general bad news. Yet, I have been spending plenty of time… Continue reading La Befana<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[257,48],"class_list":["post-8787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-christmas","tag-holiday"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10436,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2022\/12\/06\/fruitcake-murder-poison-theft\/","url_meta":{"origin":8787,"position":0},"title":"Fruitcake: murder, poison, theft","author":"leems","date":"December 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I have an unfinished project tracking fruitcake recipes through newspaper clippings that calls to me. To get me in the mood to revisit it, and to get you in the mood for the holidays, here are some choice clippings of the theft, poison, and murder with which fruitcake has been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/sn87062237-1922-01-09-1-1-image-681x648-from-28x1042-to-2416x3317-1-61x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/sn87062237-1922-01-09-1-1-image-681x648-from-28x1042-to-2416x3317-1-61x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/sn87062237-1922-01-09-1-1-image-681x648-from-28x1042-to-2416x3317-1-61x150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/sn87062237-1922-01-09-1-1-image-681x648-from-28x1042-to-2416x3317-1-61x150.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10441,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2022\/12\/13\/a-little-about-pearl-bailey\/","url_meta":{"origin":8787,"position":1},"title":"A Little About Pearl Bailey","author":"leems","date":"December 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"By William Morris Agency, Public Domain, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=28343387 It's been a while since I worked up an Every Month is ____ History Month post. Truth is, I got rather stalled on Pearl Bailey. The more information I found on her, the more I became completely fascinated, and nothing I found was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/4\/44\/Pearl_Bailey_-_publicity.jpg\/800px-Pearl_Bailey_-_publicity.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8177,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2019\/02\/13\/nothing-new-under-in-the-library\/","url_meta":{"origin":8787,"position":2},"title":"Nothing New Under in the Library","author":"leems","date":"February 13, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\"A strange crew - these people who come up to the desk: the man who wants the complete history of Piscataway Township from the year 1837 to date; the woman who is reading Zola volume by volume simply because it is in the restricted section; the little girl who asks\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9866,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2021\/12\/19\/1905-when-cotton-was-the-most-flammable-holiday-costume-fabric\/","url_meta":{"origin":8787,"position":3},"title":"1905 when cotton was the most flammable holiday costume fabric","author":"leems","date":"December 19, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The Nebraska advertiser. 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