La Befana Perfume Oil: Sugar Cookies

La Befana is a beloved Italian folkloric figure whose origins trace back to ancient pagan solstice rituals, later woven into Christian Epiphany traditions. She embodies ancestral magic, seasonal transition, and the enduring warmth of winter gift giving. 
La Befana’s origins lie in pre-Roman and Roman solstice festivals, particularly those honoring Mother Nature and agricultural renewal. These rites celebrated the death of the old year and the rebirth of the sun, often involving offerings to feminine deities and spirits of the hearth. Her name is thought to be derived from Bastrina or strenae, the gifts of figs, honey and sweets, offered to the goddess Strenia, a Goddess of transitions and new beginnings, at Saturnalia and Kalends. 
In folk magic and modern pagan traditions, La Befana is seen as an archetype of the Crone. She is a guardian of the hearth, a bringer of wisdom, and a conduit between the living and the dead. She is the soot covered Christmas witch, coming down the chimney to bring gifts or coal to the children of the household. 
Her descent through the chimney links her to ancestral fire magic, and her gifts are symbolic:
Joyful gifts (cookies and candy) represent celebration
Useful gifts (socks, scarves) symbolize care
Disciplinary gifts (coal) reflect lessons and growth, not punishment
Effigies of La Befana are sometimes burned to release her spirit back to the astral realm, echoing ancient rites of seasonal transition and spiritual cleansing.
Though often compared to Santa Claus, La Befana retains her earthy, witch-like charm, a figure of warmth, wisdom, and maternal magic. In contemporary pagan circles, she’s revered as a seasonal goddess of threshold and transformation, bridging Yule and Epiphany, the old year and the new.
In Tuscany and other regions of Italy, families bake Befanini cookies, colorful, sprinkle topped sugar cookies, on Epiphany Eve. These cookies are both a festive treat and a symbolic offering to La Befana. Historically, when families couldn’t afford toys or candies, they filled children’s stockings with simple homemade cookies, nuts, and fruit. Given all of this, naturally, La Befana’s scent is a sugar cookie. 
Sweet vanilla, butter and sugar smells good enough to eat.