By tradition a Verona the Christmas holidays close in Piazza Bra with the spectacular stake of the befana which lights up the arena and the whole square with its flames in the presence of hundreds of people. A few days before, the gigantic straw “sculpture” is prepared, each year different, to be burned as an ancient propitiatory rite for the passage from the past year to the new.
The "old" represents the burning past year, from whose ashes the new one will be born. The sweets in his sack represent the seeds, which will ripen in the year to come. There broom is the tool to wipe out the old year, and the broken stockings are the walk.
Once the stake is lit, it is necessary look in the sky: the wind that carries with it the smoke and the sparks of the bonfire will indicate what the new year will be like. The garbìn, swirling wind with south-west direction, announces rain, essential to prepare the fields for the next harvest, and therefore is a positive omen; while the wind fùrlan, from the north-east, it brings dry weather, the soil will therefore be arid bringing scarce crops, a sign of a difficult year.
The appointment is then Sunday 6 January at 17.17 pm in Piazza Bra in Verona for the BRUSA LA VECIA. But this year it also becomes the stage of the flash mob “Brusa la Vecia… singing!”: A new formula that aims to increase the fun of the participants and the fame of tradition.
