She’s more popular than Santa in some parts of Italy— and it’s been passed down to me that she represents the liminal space between ancestors and children, not unlike how the ancestors deliver candy to the children on Il Morti.  She is the one who keeps the bond alive between the worlds of this season, delivering sacred treats of nuts, figs, sweets from the otherworld to this one, reaffirming the connection between the living and the dead. 

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