Need help with Befana stories

[juicymcduck]

Italian (or Italian-spaking) fans, I need you! ^^

From what I saw on Inducks, the Italian gift-giving witch has only appeared in 5 stories, which is surprisingly little IMHO. But I digress!

All of those save for one were never published in a language I can read, so I need help figuring out what her role was in the remaining four stories. ANy help would be greatly appreciated. :-)

[sim]

Oct 6, 2021 8:12:57 GMT juicymcduck said:

Italian (or Italian-spaking) fans, I need you! ^^

From what I saw on Inducks, the Italian gift-giving witch has only appeared in 5 stories, which is surprisingly little IMHO. But I digress!

All of those save for one were never published in a language I can read, so I need help figuring out what her role was in the remaining four stories. ANy help would be greatly appreciated. :-)

Hi, I probably read one or two of those, but I don't actually know if it is supposed to be the same character in each of them. I mean, Befana in Italian culture is like Santa Claus, there is aplenty of stories featuring him, but the authors don't do it on purpose establishing a solid character, because it's more of popular tradition.

Anyway, the real-life Befana is supposed to show up in the night between the 5th and 6th of January and she usually gives sweets to the good kids and coal to the kids who behaved bad. I believe that all of those stories set around this very topic/script, with various degrees of including Disney characters.

[juicymcduck]

Oct 6, 2021 8:29:09 GMT sim said:

Oct 6, 2021 8:12:57 GMT juicymcduck said:

Italian (or Italian-spaking) fans, I need you! ^^

From what I saw on Inducks, the Italian gift-giving witch has only appeared in 5 stories, which is surprisingly little IMHO. But I digress!

All of those save for one were never published in a language I can read, so I need help figuring out what her role was in the remaining four stories. ANy help would be greatly appreciated. :-)

Hi, I probably read one or two of those, but I don't actually know if it is supposed to be the same character in each of them. I mean, Befana in Italian culture is like Santa Claus, there is aplenty of stories featuring him, but the authors don't do it on purpose establishing a solid character, because it's more of popular tradition.

Oh, that doesn't matter much to me. Even though all artists don't draw Santa as "the same character," it still actually is at the end of the day---or at least that's how I take it. The same reasoning would apply to la Befana.

If you do manage to get your hands on at least one of those stories, I still would be interested to know what role she plays in them.

[farmspirit]

In Topolino e l'anticipo natalizio the Befana stole Santa Claus' bag and did the gift-giving, because of her low-confidence. This is caused by thinking that her gift are B-tier, because they are after Santa's gifts, and that no one wants hers coal. Santa and the Mousetown police department cheer her up. (It's stated that her broomstick is faster than Santa's sledge)

In Una befana per Dinamite Bla there is not a Befana, but TWO! Here is stated that the Befana when Hard Haid Moe was young is the grandmother of the current Befana, and that they run their activity like a company. In fact the current Befana made a deal with a sweet-producing company, for them to be her only supplier. In reality this company was a trick by $crooge, who wanted to obtain her coal mine. The Befana says that its reserve of coal is immeasurable. The mine is owned by B-H (Befana Holding), and the Befana in this story has two trademarks, Befana© and Befana™. (This Befana has a flirt with HHM, and her favourite dish are turnips)

This second story confirm that, at least during history, the Befana wasn't a single person, but more of a title passed down. So it is also possible that there have been multiple Befane at the same time, in different places (Now that I write that I seem to remember a story with a similar plot, but I don't see it in the list on inducks [But that list is definitely lacking])

As sim said, the best place where to look to search stories with Befana are issues published around 6/1. Since Topolino is weekly, you just need to move 52 in 52, and sometimes going a number up to account for the days in advance.

In the Che aria tira... at the starts of Topolino there are often mentions of Befana, but rarely the character herself.

[Matilda]

Befana exists as an identified character in INDUCKS because I myself suggested it, on the second page of the "All-purpose INDUCKS thread"--I listed the stories I knew about (from an earlier Befana thread here which I can't find, because the search on this forum never works for me!), which is I'm sure a tiny percentage of the overall number. You will see on that thread that cacou added Befana as a character in INDUCKS with the stories I'd listed, just this past February. If you have other stories where you can verify Befana's presence, maybe you could let cacou know on the INDUCKS thread. I'd personally love to know about more Befana stories, and reviews or plot summaries like farmspirit's would be particularly welcome!

The first story I ran across which mentioned Befana was one where Magica was mistaken as Befana by some children, whom she then helps. Fatina per un giorno (Sarda/Intini). But Befana doesn't actually appear in that one. The funny thing about that one is that it was translated into French, where the children mistake Magica for Mrs. Claus ("la femme du Père Noël"), which makes *no* kind of sense!!

[Daniel Maline]

Oct 6, 2021 8:12:57 GMT juicymcduck said:

Italian (or Italian-spaking) fans, I need you! ^^

From what I saw on Inducks, the Italian gift-giving witch has only appeared in 5 stories, which is surprisingly little IMHO. But I digress!

All of those save for one were never published in a language I can read, so I need help figuring out what her role was in the remaining four stories. ANy help would be greatly appreciated. :-)

Not its more special stories, at least based on what I can say based on three out of five stories that is published in Finland.

(Note: the original Italian name of the stories in parentheses)

Joulun taikaa - The Magic of Christmas
(Zio Paperone e la magica atmosfera di Natale, I TL 1778-A)

The antique dealer (who is disguised Santa) lends to Scrooge an enchanted pop up book that contains a story about a silver spruce owned by an old rich man and guarded by a giant. In this book, Befana is a kind of hero who asks Santa to return a stolen spruce back to its owner after the Santa has stolen it.

Tonttujen* jouluyö - The Christmas Eve for Elves/Stupids
(Manetta e l'indagine natalizia, I TL 2196-1)

Inspector Casey and Brick Boulder have arrested Santa for burglary. And while Santa is sitting in jail, the elves accidentally kidnap O’Hara thinking that he’s Santa. After the barter, the problem is solved but next, Casey and Boulder arrest the Befana.

*In Finnish, the word "tonttu" has a double meaning

Kekkerit - The Witches' Sabbath
(Party, I TL 2824-02)

In this one-page story, Magica criticizes Ratface. But not because he has organized the kegger party of Witches' Sabbath but because he has invited the magic brooms to celebrate and therefore Befana doesn’t get to her work.

---

Originally, Befana is an Italian Epiphany witch with a role similar to that of Santa Claus. To me it is a fairly recent knowledge that this good and nice witch of the Epiphany has Italian origin. In Finland, the witch of the Epiphany was once known as a prankster who travels on the Epiphany Eve to tricks & treats children. I don't know when the tradition arrived in Finland from Italy during the 1960s and when it was forgotten. However, it arrived before American Halloween was adopted in Finland. Today, this witch tradition is a strange phenomenon that has not been continued in Finland for years, but I hope that this tradition is still alive in its home, Italy.

[Orora]

And I already mentioned the story where Befana brings a bicycle as a gift to Goofy, and Hazel then asks Befana to help her convince Goofy that she is a genuine witch (since a running gag is that Goofy refuses to admit Hazel is an actual witch with magic powers). After all, the Befana is not supposed to lie...

[farmspirit]

Oct 10, 2021 9:16:36 GMT Orora said:

And I already mentioned the story where Befana brings a bicycle as a gift to Goofy, and Hazel then asks Befana to help her convince Goofy that she is a genuine witch (since a running gag is that Goofy refuses to admit Hazel is an actual witch with magic powers). After all, the Befana is not supposed to lie...

Nocciola e un regalo particolare has basically the same plot, down to the gift for Goofy (a bike). But in this story the befana isn't listed on inducks. So if someone know how, please add her. Thankz

[Matilda]

Nov 12, 2021 10:57:18 GMT farmspirit said:

Oct 10, 2021 9:16:36 GMT Orora said:

And I already mentioned the story where Befana brings a bicycle as a gift to Goofy, and Hazel then asks Befana to help her convince Goofy that she is a genuine witch (since a running gag is that Goofy refuses to admit Hazel is an actual witch with magic powers). After all, the Befana is not supposed to lie...

Nocciola e un regalo particolare has basically the same plot, down to the gift for Goofy (a bike). But in this story the befana isn't listed on inducks. So if someone know how, please add her. Thankz

As I said above, you can suggest this on the "All-purpose INDUCKS thread"--cacou looks at that, and will probably add Befana to the character list of any story where her appearance is attested.

[juicymcduck]

In the latest "Christmas Special" issue of Mickey Parade, they republished this story, which may contain a cameo by the Befana --- only I can't tell for sure because I haven't read the original Italian version. Santa throws a party where a slew of fairy tale-ish characters are invited (there's a fairy, the Puss in Boots, and a giant rabbit who's probably the Easter Bunny, though I couldn't tell why Santa would invite a panda and a vampire to a party). As you can see in the first image (the last panel of the story), one of the guests is a witch, but she's not directly identified. However, earlier in the story, an elf tells Santa that "la fée Carabosse"* just confirmed her attendance. I suspect that she is in fact the Befana.



* Carabosse is one of the names used for Witch Hazel in French, but of course "la fée Carabosse" is, first and foremost, the name of the wicked fairy godmother in Marius Petipa's ballet Sleeping Beauty.

[cacou]

Added in I TL 2615-4
Not sure for 2457-1 that this is really Befana.

[farmspirit]

Nov 13, 2021 11:49:12 GMT cacou said:

Added in I TL 2615-4
Not sure for 2457-1 that this is really Befana.

Thankz.

For 2457, as juicymcduck said, it is never stated that the character at the end is the Befana, but as he mentioned, the Befana is said to be attending Santa Claus' party, so either the befana is the one with the broom, or she isn't in the shot.

[Spectrus]

I would also lean strongly towards the idea that it's her. Can anybody check the text of the Italian original?

[bats]

Nov 15, 2021 8:48:27 GMT Spectrus said:

I would also lean strongly towards the idea that it's her. Can anybody check the text of the Italian original?

Befana confirmed.