Three Kings Day

Last night the kids sang a song in honor of the holiday.  It's kinda cute!

You can read a description below about Los Tres Reyes Magos or skip to the end of the write up to see what we've been doing.

The best-loved tradition among kids during Spanish Christmas is Los Tres Reyes Magos (the Three Wise Men). Santa Claus is quite well-known as he delivers toys and presents, but the real stars in Spain are los Reyes. These Three Kings are the ones who followed a star to meet the new King of Kings (Baby Jesus) and offered him three presents: gold, frankincense and myrrh to the newborn child in Belén (Bethlehem).
When December comes, all the boys and girls in Spain and Latin America start to write their letters to the Three Kings or to their favorite King: Melchor, Gaspar or Baltasar. They write about the things they'd like to receive on the morning of the 6th of January, (which is the day the presents get delivered) and also about their behavior during the year. If they’ve been good, they get presents; if they’ve been bad, they get a piece of coal.
Their Majesties travel by camel and due to the fact that they come from the East, they take a long time to arrive to Spain. Once here, they visit all the cities and villages, and listen to the kids' requests, after a spectacular parade. On the night of the 5th, the kids put their shoes by the door before going to bed so that the Kings will know how many children live there. They also put out something to eat and drink for Melchor, Gaspar, and Baltasar, and also water and grass for the camels (true, they can last a month or more without drinking water, but that night they have a lot of work to do, so they need extra water and food).
On the morning of the 6th, children find their presents inside and outside the shoes (it's very unusual for their Majesties to bring carbones (coal) because no child really behaves so badly, and many people say it's not true that naughty girls and boys get only coal and no toys). The food and drink placed in the plates and glasses are gone. The children start playing with their toys, and excitedly await for the next 5th of January to come around.
This write up came from Donquijote.org

Yesterday Reegan made a picture for the 3 kings.  A picture of them and their puppies with crowns on!  Ha!  Isn't that cute?!

 

The kids woke up to find gifts in their shoes.  Take a look!

A tradition on King's Day...eat Roscon de Reyes (King Cake) of course!  It reminds me of the tradition for Mardi Gras.

 This insert explains that inside the cake is a small surprise and a bean.  Whoever gets the surprise will have good luck all year.  Whoever finds the bean must pay for the cake!  Ha!

Guess who found the surprise??

Brennan will be the lucky duck all year!  The bean has not been found as of yet.  It's a fairly big cake and we haven't eaten it all yet.  So it's not been decided who must pay yet!

My goal for next year?  To make my own Roscon de Reyes!

This little crown was in with the cake!

 And my 3 kings!

During the Christmas season I had been seeing these neat little bags in the candy section or store.  It looked like a little sack of coal.  Then I was in one of the candy stores, like this

(isn't it amazing?!) and saw them.  I decided to get a few bags.  It's basically a big black sugar crystal!

 We gave one to Jerry's dad as a joke!  Ha!  He let the kids sample it and they ate almost one whole piece!  I guess it tastes good even if you get coal in your stocking!

It was fun celebrating this new (to us) holiday!  I really like the tradition and the meaning behind it.
There are parades that go on all over town, but we were afraid of the kids getting sick again.  Between the 5 of us we've had the flu 3 times, 1 with strep, 3 with bronchitis and numerous colds.  Too many to count.  It is time to get this bunch well and to stay well!!

Happy Three Kings Day!

Tomorrow we hope to take a road trip to Segovia.  I can't wait!  It looks like a beautiful city!  And a fun thing to do for my birthday!