The Allisons

Italians celebrate Epiphany. It is the holiday commemorating when the wise men brought gifts to Jesus and signals the end of the Christmas season. Unrelated (I think) to this holiday, although it occurs on the same day are the bonfires. The bonfires represent a kind of renewing of the land and hope for a good harvest next year.
These pictures are from Fanna, the next town over. It was the biggest bonfire in our area. There was a dummy at the top. This is where I'm confused about the tradition. I originally thought that the dummy was La Befana (and it very well might be). However, nothing I know about La Befana warrants her adorning the top of a very large bonfire. La Befano literally means witch, but it has nothing to do with actually practicing witchcraft. It's just a really old, bent, woman. According to Italian legend, on the way to see the Christ child, the wise men had to stop and ask for directions. They knocked on the door of a house where a gnarled, old woman answered. She knew nothing about the one they were seeking, so she sent them away. The wise men asked her if she wanted to join them, but she declined claiming she had a lot of housework to do. Later, she began to think that she had missed a great opportunity and went to search for them. Unable to find them, she gave a treat to every child she could find, hoping one of them would be the Christ child. Every year on the eve of Epiphany she visits every house looking for the Christ child and in a stocking hung by the chimney she leaves treats for good children and lumps of coal for the bad children. Sound familiar? Anyway, like I said, I'm not sure why they would burn her for that, but I don't know what else the dummy could represent.
This is a picture of the mountain nearest our house. I was standing at the bonfire when I took the picture. If you look really hard, you can see a tiny bit of snow. :)
I'll have all of you know that I walked to Fanna to take all of these pictures. It was no easy feat, especially for a very pregnant woman. I think it's about 6 or 7 kilometers--round trip.
This is the main road leading into our town--Cavasso Nuovo. The town church is on the far left.
The last pictures are of the bonfire of course. I was able to take a short video on my camera, but I'm not sure how or if I'm able to put it on here. For as green as everything looked, it sure went up fast. In the picture on the right, it's mainly the dummy that's burning.