6th January Epiphany Joan of Arc (1412 - 1431) Carl Sandburg (1878 - 1967)

Fog

The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbour and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on.

Carl Sandburg

Carl Sandburg was an American writer who was best known for his poetry. There would be very few poetry anthologies for children which do not have Fog or some other poem of his. Fog is perfect for learning and reciting. It is also good for teaching children about the power of imagery.

It is Epiphany, the twelfth day of Christmas, the time when the Three Wise Men came to visit baby Jesus in his manger, time to take down the Christmas decorations and time to think about going back to school. I wrote about Epiphany yesterday.

Joan of Arc, known as St Joan because she is a Catholic saint was a French heroine of the Hundred Years' War. Born a peasant, she led the French army to several victories before being captured, tried by the English and left to burn on a stake when she was only nineteen years old. Joan of Arc's story has been told in picture book format several times. See:

• Joan of Arc by Josephine Poole and Angela Barrett

• Joan of Arc by Diane Stanley

• Joan of Arc: Heroine of France by Ann Tomert and Michael Garland, and

• Joan of Arc by Michael Morpurgo and Michael Foreman (this has a longer text, but very dynamic illustrations)

5th January La Befana

La Befana is part of traditional Italian Epiphany celebrations. I have borrowed this from Anthony Parente to explain what it means. "La Befana is one of Italy's oldest and most celebrated legends. Each year on January 6 the children of Italy awaken in hopes that La Befana has made a visit to their house. This is a significant day to Italians because it marks the end of the Christmas season and the day that the three Wise Men arrived at the manger of the Christ child. Over the years the Epiphany has been a more celebrated holiday for the children of Italy than even Christmas.

As legend has it the three Wise Men were in search of the Christ child when they decided to stop at a small house to ask for directions. Upon knocking, an old woman holding a broom opened the door slightly to see who was there. Standing at her doorstep were three colorfully dressed men who were in need of directions to find the Christ child. The old woman was unaware of who these three men were looking for and could not point them in the right direction. Prior to the three men leaving they kindly asked the old woman to join them on their journey. She declined because she had much housework to do. After they left she felt as though she had made a mistake and decided to go and catch up with the kind men. After many hours of searching she could not find them. Thinking of the opportunity she had missed the old woman stopped every child to give them a small treat in hope that one was the Christ child. Each year on the eve of the Epiphany she sets out looking for the baby Jesus. She stops at each child's house to leave those who were good treats in their stockings and those who were bad a lump of coal." This story is told beautifully by Tomie dePaola in The Legend of Old Befana. We can always rely on Tomie to have a picture book about any Italian tradition!

Interestingly, the Russians also have a folktale about an old woman who is also visited by three wise men who are on their way to visit a new baby. She is known as Baboushka. If you cannot find the dePaola book, look for one of the Russian folktales. My library has these three, but there are others:

• Babushka by Sandra Ann Horn & Sophie Fatus

• Baboushka by Arthur Scholey & Helen Cann

• The Tale of Baboushka by Elena Pasquali & Lucia Mongioj