Epiphany and the Olympic Theater

In Italy, the Christmas season lasts much longer. The 12 days of Christmas begins on December 25th and ends on Epiphany, which was celebrated on January 6th this year. Epiphany, also known as Three Kings day celebrates the day when the wise men came to see the baby Jesus. On this day, the children hang up little socks and a witch named La Befana comes and puts presents in the socks of the good children. 

The legend is that La Befana was supposed to go see the baby Jesus with the wise men and bring gifts, but refused to do so. As a result, out of guilt, each year she brings gifts to each child in hopes of finally being able to find the baby Jesus.

On the day of Epiphany Dallin and I went to another Christmas market in Vicenza. This market was the most lively one we had been to yet! Here are some pictures we took to try to capture some of the sights and smells and sounds of this exciting market.

La Befana

So many candies and goodies!!!

I forgot to mention that we actually went to this market as a part of our Headstart class. Headstart is a program that the army has set up for army people who have just moved to Vicenza to help introduce them to the Italian culture and language. As a part of this class, we went to the market and we also went to the Olympic Theater.

The Olympic Theater was amazing! It is the oldest indoor theater in the world. It was designed by the famous architect Andrea Palladio. Inside it was very cold because they do not heat or air condition the theater in order to preserve it as much as possible. Because of this they only hold performances in the theater during the spring and fall.

The outside of the Olympic Theater.

The inside of the theater was the most impressive part. The stage is set up like ancient Thebes from one of the plays that played at the theater. The trompe l'oeil (tricks of the eye) that gave the stage such deep perspective, was amazing to witness.