¡Feliz Dia de Los Tres Reyes! Happy Three Kings Day!
This holiday is of great cultural significance to those of the Christian faith and is widely celebrated amongst members of the Latino and Hispanic community. This holiday is more than just a simple celebration of faith and family, rather it is a time for many to reconnect over years of tradition.
The holiday in question goes by many names including Dia de Los Reyes Magos, Three Kings Day, and The Epiphany to name a few but they all describe the same event. This event was the time when three kings, magi, noblemen, or wise men depending on the retelling, were the first to visit the newborn Christ Jesus and pay homage to him. The gifts bestowed upon the baby were gold, frankincense, and myrrh, which at the time of this event in the 4th century were regarded as expensive and precious gifts.
Magi Visitation to Annual Holiday
To understand this point, one must first look at the events of colonization itself. During the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish colonizers would carry out missions to convert the local native populations of the Caribbean Islands and Central America to christianity. The mission was to supposably save them from their savage ways of life as reported in the personal entries of Bartolome de Las Casas, a Spanish clergyman of the 1500s. The spread and following forced acceptance of the christian faith and teaching would take hold and mix with the local traditions creating the celebrated day many know now.
Much of Latin America celebrates the traditional holiday and in some areas it is held in higher popularity than the visitation of Santa on Christmas night with many Hispanic households reported to celebrate the holiday.
Traditions of gift giving are similar to that of Christmas but have their own unique spin. Instead of gifts being left under a tree, small children are instructed to leave their shoes by their doorsteps so that the wisemen may leave them a gift in the soles of their shoes. Some add to the traditional experience of the evening by leaving out water and hay for the camels that they are said to be traveling on, adding to the sentiment of the journey they took and notion of caring for others.
Complimentary to the evening festivities is food. Similar to Nochebuena or Christmas Eve being a celebration of family and food, Three Kings Day has its own type of culinary treat. The traditional food is a dessert dish known as “Rosca de Reyes” or “King’s Cake” in english. This sweet bread is made in the shape of a crown, symbolic of a king’s crown. People cut into the cake in equal parts and must eat with caution as there is usually a small plastic doll or baby figurine hidden and baked into the cake. This figurine represents the Baby Jesus.
The fun in the matter of cake can vary in meaning depending on what the individual family’s tradition might mean for if someone should end up with a surprise in their slice. Some say that to have the surprise in your slice means that the individual is to be blessed with a year of good fortune. While others claim that having it means that you will be responsible for baking the cake for the following year.
Regardless of what your tradition might be, Todo Wafi would like to wish you a Happy Three Kings Day!
