A holiday we celebrate in Latin America and Spain.
In this holiday we commemorate the arriving of the Three Kings – Melchor, Gaspar and Baltazar-- to see Little Jesus with presents for him (gold, frankincense and myrrh).
Days before children leave letters on the Christmas tree asking for the presents they want. In January 5 they leave a shoe for the three kings to leave their presents. Also children leave cookies and milk for them to eat.
In that day in Spain in all of the towns the Three Kings participate in a parade were they show the presents they are going to give. These parades are beautiful traditions full of color and music that children love. They throw candies at everyone. Candies can hit you in the head so be warned!
I watched once the Three Kings parade in Madrid and it was beautiful with immense displays going through the down town streets. Anyway I put here some videos so you can see it.
In that day we eat Rosca de Reyes that is a round sweet bread with candied fruit on top, recently, different flavored whipped creams are used as filling.
In Spain inside the Rosca is a doll, the one that gets the doll in his piece has to pay the Rosca.
In México the one or ones that get the doll have to make a party on February 2 ( Dia de la Candelaria) the day of the presentation of Jesus in the temple. The party must have tamales and atole (a hot sweet drink thickened with corn flour).
Right now I am going to help the three kings with the presents and see if they want to share a little milk and chocolate. ;)
Maybe I can persuade them of giving me presents instead of coal…
Whether you celebrate or not this Holiday, I hope you have a beautiful Thursday!
Posts
Feliz dia de los reyes magos to you, too!
WOW! That is amazing. Maybe I should move to Spain.
The cake looks yummy! In Spanish class decades ago, we we told Spanish kids put out shoes instead of stockings, with hay in them for the Tres Reyes horses (or was it camels?). Do they still do that? Happy Day of the Wise Kings!
I love that you're sharing with us your cultural celebrations! Your Rosca cakes are very similar to that of King Cakes in New Orleans. Such fun!(I wrote a blog post about that awhile back:
http://newport2newport.livejournal.com/tag/king%20cake)
Happy Epiphany Day/Feliz dia de los reyes magos!
I love the tradition of Three King's Day. (We New Jersey Italians here in the States call it Little Christmas.) Celebrating 12 days of Christmas is so much more festive than just the one day, then it's over. Blah!
thanks for sharing!
I love that you are still celebrating...here in the States it's back to business as usual with no more big holidays until Easter. With the gloom of winter, it would be nice to have a few more parties to add some cheer.
I hope you have a beautiful Thursday, too! What did the three kings bring Carlos?
random commenter
I love learning about foreign holidays, thanks for sharing!
Wow, that parade looks awesome! Thanks for sharing :)
Oh I would love to live there again!
Thank you! Have a wonderful day!
In many places they do that ( put shoes with hay) I think there was an elephant, a camel and a horse.
Happy day to you too!
Thank you! I thought it was a good idea. Taht way we can now each others traditions and that can also help in writing!
I just read your post and the rosca is very similar to the king cakes!
Happy Epiphany day for you too!
Here in México the celebratiosn starts in December 16 with the posadas. The posadas are little parties were they represent when Mary and Joseph ask for shelter when the baby Jesus was about to being born.
We celebrate posadas from that day until christmas. As you can see in Mexico we love holidays!
Have a beautiful day sparkle queen!
Yes this is our last holiday but people work today. the only ones that doesn't have school are kids but in every company we celebrate with our rosca with the co-workers
they brought him a didactic videogame of Pooh and a car. To Alex they brought little cars with the shape of farm animals, so he makes " rum, muuu" LOL.
Yes it is beautiful. I called my SIL today and she says that the one of this year was wonderful.
I'm glad you liked it!
Re: random commenter
I'm glad you liked it!
I love learning about your holidays -- I hope it's a lovely one for you, Anabel :D
I remember this celebration when Bob and I lived in Mexico City - the bread with the doll in it! :) Happy Three Kings Day!
I am very glad you liked it!
It was lovely, although I ate too much...:)
happy day (night) to you too!
Really interesting - I love reading about other countries' traditions. Thanks for sharing. I wonder why it's only hispanic countries that celebrate this one ...
I really don't know why. Maybe because most of the hispanic countries are catholic