But wasn’t it the Befana who filled the stocking with sweets or coal? In the rest of Italy it works like this, but in Puglia, precisely in the Foggia area, it is the Dead who fill the socks. And it doesn’t happen on January 6th, but on the night between November 1st and 2nd, the Day dedicated to the Commemoration of the Dead. Naturally only under one condition: the children must have done well!
Precisely on this somewhat magical night, during which the boundary between the visible and invisible world becomes thinner, the ancestors return to visit their loved ones who are still alive. To welcome their souls, tradition requires leaving the entrance door ajar, lighting candles and leaving the table set throughout the night.
As the site explains Inside Captainatathe choice of sock is not random but due to the fact that it covers the feet, the organ closest to the earth. E – tamping the earth after burial strengthens the bond between the deceased and the lower limb. – A further reason must be sought in the similarity of the socks with cornucopias, the symbol par excellence of luck and abundance.
But what do the Dead give to girls and boys? Exactly the same things that the Befana brings: in the past mainly dried or seasonal fruit, nowadays sweets and chocolates.
Immediately afterwards they resume their journey until on January 6th, the day of the Epiphany, they return to their world.
Thanks to this wonderful tradition, children learn to honor and remember their deceased loved ones in a joyful way, without fear of them.
SOURCES: Inside Capitanata/My Puglia/FoggiaRacconta
