El día de los reyes magos or Epiphany ( January 6)

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!

 

24 comments on “El día de los reyes magos or Epiphany ( January 6)

  1. 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!

    • 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!

  2. 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!

    • 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!

  3. 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.

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