One of the customs we carried over into Foundation Day from earlier winter festivals such as Brumalia, Saturnalia and Kalends is the giving of strenae (“good luck presents.”)
If you aren’t sure what to get the Dionysian in your life, might I recommend one of our Year 4 calendars which have most of his major festivals converted from their lunar dates, something that will prove helpful whether or not their practice is informed by the Starry Bull tradition. I’ve still got a few left from the initial run and won’t be printing more once those all sell out.
If you don’t currently have a Dionysian in your life leave a comment below and y’all can do a gift exchange. I recommend that these be small presents (under $20) and even better something hand made, and filled with prayer and good wishes for the year to come. Normal warnings about strangers on the internet and giving out personal information apply. Just because someone is a reader of this blog does not make them a good or trustworthy individual. (Though it does suggest they have impeccable taste.)
And finally, if you want to gift your humble author and ἱεροποιός (temple steward) a little something something you’re welcome to send donations via Paypal to sannion@gmail.com. I assure you that all donations will either be spent on offerings for the temple, books or drugs.
The House of Vines 
So I read something interesting on that Wikipedia page. Apparently some think La Befana is actually a Christianized Strena. What do you think about that? Also, are you going to at some point do a post on Italian mumming traditions around this season? That would be super cool to learn about!
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Wouldn’t surprise me. Man, that brings back the memories. Every year around the holidays my mom would read me Tomie dePaola’s The Legend of Old Befana until it became as associated with the festivities as the smell of baking ginger bread or citrus.
I wasn’t really planning to make such a post, though it’s a neat idea.
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Your mom always sounds so cool when you talk about her. You were very lucky to have had her.
That would be a super cool post! I like how La Befana is essentially in a state of Limbo like many in the Harlequinade: because of her misstep in not going with the Magi she now rides forever searching for the Christ Child. You know, it’s funny because a few months back I took 7.5 grams of Psilocybin and a huge theme in the trip was my own liminal state at this point in my life. Tons of realizations and it showed me a lot of the pain I feel. There really is tragedy in the comedy.
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