CAST:

Caravan of Travelers* - non-singing
Weary Traveler* - tenor
Old Befana - soprano
Small Group of Children* - trebles
Neighbor #1 - soprano
Neighbor #2 - soprano
Neighbor Women - soprano, alto/mezzo soprano
Magi (3) - low tenor/high baritone
Angels* - trebles, sopranos
Young Mother* - soprano or mezzo soprano
Second Young Mother* - soprano or mezzo soprano
Shepherd - low tenor/high baritone

Synopsis

Synopsis. The time is shortly after the birth of Christ. An old woman who long ago lost her husband and infant daughter lives alone in bitterness, making her little cottage the focus of all her attention. Children make fun of her and neighbors, unable to lure her into friendship, mock her.

The lonely Befana sings a lullaby to a straw doll and goes to bed. On this cold winter night, three Magi arrive at her cottage to ask directions to Bethlehem, over which a bright star shines. Befana is startled by their beauty but cannot understand their language, so she turns them away. The Magi depart and their song is accompanied by the voices of Angels. Though stirred, Befana returns to bed. However, she cannot sleep and takes up the straw doll again. Her singing is overheard by a shepherd.

Despite herself, Befana lets the shepherd in. He tells her about the star and quotes the Prophets about the coming of a Messiah, but Befana makes her usual excuses. At a loss, the shepherd asks her about the straw doll, and she vehemently defends her privacy. Regretting that he has offended her, the shepherd sings Befana a farewell blessing and leaves. Alone in her cottage, Befana returns the blessing.

Old Befana then wonders if she should have gone with the shepherd. She leaves the cottage, is momentarily distracted by her littered sidewalk, which she sweeps, and then, transfixed by the ever louder song of angels, she hobbles in the direction of the star.

Old Befana's hobble becomes a walk, then the walk becomes a run. Soon she is flying. Angels surround her and repeat the prophesies. Out of the profound darkness and silence that follows, she hears the song of a young mother far below, singing to her infant. "This must be the Christ child!" she thinks. She descends to earth and sings a reverent hymn of greeting to the child. As her song ends, she hears another mother singing to her child. Then another. . .

According to legend, Old Befana never found the Christ Child. But in her search for Him, she comes to the bedsides of infants and children each year at Epiphany. She sees the Christ child in everyone.