Today’s Film: Tokyo Godfathers
One Christmas Eve, three homeless people—middle-aged alcoholic Gin, transgender woman Hana, and teenage runaway Miyuki—discover an abandoned newborn while searching through the garbage for presents, along with a note asking whoever finds the baby to take good care of her and a key leading to a bag with clues to the parents’ identity. The trio sets out to find the baby’s parents, and Hana names her Kiyoko, based on the Japanese translation of “Silent Night” and literally meaning “pure child”. This Japanese film directed by Satoshi Kon and starring Tōru Emori, Yoshiaki Umegaki, and Aya Okamoto, centres around the themes of miracles and family, both biological and created, and critics have hailed it as “harrowing and heartwarming” and “a moving, and somewhat, unconventional, entry to the animated Christmas canon.
Today’s Tradition: La Befana; Italy
In Italian folklore and folk customs, La Befana is a witch-like old woman who delivers gifts to children throughout Italy on Epiphany Eve (the night of January 5) in a similar way to Santa Claus or the Three Magi. La Befana is a widespread tradition among Italians and thus has many names. She is a part of both popular national culture and traditional folk culture and is akin to other figures who roam about sometime during the Twelve Days and reward the good, punish the bad, and receive offerings. La Befana is a mysterious, contradictory figure of unclear origins.
