The Three Wise Men

With some of the holidays—Halloween, Thanksgiving—which have made it across the Atlantic to Spain, I wish that my favorite, the Three Wise Men, would be celebrated in the United States. Yes, here we have the Epiphany on the same day, January 6^th, but it’s mostly a religious festivity. What is even sadder is that, since Trump’s insurrection on the same date of 2021, no one is remembering the baby Jesus on that day. I’ve said it before: “Leave it to Trump to ruin the Three Wise Men holiday.” 

In Spain the Three Wise Men bring gifts to the children on the night of January 5^th, the twelve day of Christmas. In my family we left hard cider for the kings and straw for the camels in our balcony. How the kings made it to the third floor and much higher to other neighbors’ balconies is just as magical as fat Santa making it down the chimney. That could be the reason why they are also known as the Reyes Magos, the Magi or magical kings.

The Three Kings arrived from different continents: Melchior was from Europe, Caspar from Asia and Balthasar (my king) from Africa. Most Spanish homes set up elaborate Nativity scenes with real grass, fake rivers made out of aluminum foil, the manger, Virgin Mary, Joseph, Jesus, shepherds, angels, lambs, donkeys, and the kings, of course. This catafalque stayed up until after the kings had come and gone. We didn’t have one in my home. I knew my parents were not religious, but I have been making up for my adored kings since then. I have three sets of kings: a more formal Spanish one, with golden touches and Melchior kneeling; another with tall, stylized figures holding tight to their biblical gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And my favorite kings, the rustic ones from Oaxaca in vibrant colors and child-like faces carrying no gifts at all.

Another tradition of the Three Wise Men holiday is the cabalgata de Reyes (the Kings’ parade). It’s held in the evening of January 5^th through the most important streets of each city with elaborate floats full of presents for the kings, accompanied by musicians, acrobats and dancers. Spanish children, like their parents, stay up late and the parade ends up with fireworks at 10 PM or later. If you don’t want to get caught in awful traffic, you can watch it on YouTube later.

Several years ago, I was in Madrid for Christmas and I forgot all about the cabalgata. On that evening I was going to the Cultural Center on Plaza Colón to see a play, A palo seco (impossible to translate, something like “All on One’s Own”), by Carmen Martín Gaite, one of my favorite authors. It’s one of the few plays she wrote among her many novels, essays, even poems. I was lucky to catch a taxi (it was before Uber), but when the driver heard I wanted to go to the center of the city, he said I would never make it. He would drop me off at the closest Metro entrance and I could figure it out from there. I guess I also forgot what know-it-alls taxi drivers are in Madrid.

This year, here in old Philadelphia, I want to celebrate the Three Wise Men in style, making the traditional Roscón de Reyes (The Kings’ Round Cake) for a New Year’s Evening celebration with friends. Previously I have given dinner parties with that theme, especially if January 6^th fell on a weekend, but I’ve never baked the cake before. I think nowadays everyone in Spain buys it in any neighborhood pastry shop, but as you know, I can be out of sync with my own culture. The cake has a similar consistency of brioche or challah bread, topped with candy fruit and nuts. A little figurine is hidden inside and the one who finds it gets to be king for a day or buys the cake the following year, depending in your family’s tradition. I think if you bite into the figurine and don’t break a tooth, you are lucky already. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

However you celebrate the New Year, Have a wonderful 2024, full of peace and joy!

 

 

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 28th, 2023 at 8:42 pm by conchaalborg and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.