{"id":13119,"date":"2020-01-02T09:00:05","date_gmt":"2020-01-02T14:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/?p=13119"},"modified":"2019-12-13T09:02:33","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T14:02:33","slug":"celebrating-three-kings-day-in-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/celebrating-three-kings-day-in-mexico\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Three King’s Day in Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I was growing up, Santa Claus wasn’t such a big thing. Families exchanged gifts on December 25th, but the special gifts were brought by\u00a0los Tres Reyes Magos. <\/em>In this post, I will share some of my experiences growing up with the Reyes Magos<\/em> and the gifts they brought.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Photo taken by Charo Pascual found on Flickr.com with Public Domain Mark 1.0<\/p><\/div>\n

Bearing gifts<\/h3>\n

According to Christian belief, the three kings (also known as three wise men in some areas) or the R<\/em>eyes Magos,<\/em>\u00a0arrived at Jesus’s birth bearing gifts of\u00a0oro\u00a0<\/em>or gold,\u00a0incienso<\/em> or incense, and\u00a0mirra<\/em> or myrrh. The three\u00a0Reyes Magos<\/em> are an important figure in the story of Jesus’s birth including the Nativity scenes or\u00a0nacimientos<\/em> that are common in Mexican households.<\/p>\n

It is with this belief that Melchor, Gaspar and Balthazar started bringing\u00a0regalos<\/em> or presents to children all over the world. Like most religious traditions, Mexico adopted this from Spain. Just like with Santa Claus, children write a letter to the reyes<\/em> to ask them for certain gifts. In Mexico, some schools organize “sending out” parties where the letters are placed inside balloons. The Mexican postal service can also deliver the letters to the\u00a0reyes.\u00a0<\/em>Children can also leave their letters inside one of their shoes.<\/p>\n

And on the night between January 5th and 6th, before going to bed, children must put a shoe out so that the\u00a0reyes<\/em> know where to leave the presents. After a very sleepless night, they run to their living rooms to see what the\u00a0reyes<\/em> have brought them. January 6th is then a day to play with your new toys! I remember one year when I was quite young, we were able to take our toys to school and all day we just played and shared our toys. I don’t know what else we did at school, but I do remember being very excited to show my gifts to my friends. More recently, the department of education has extended the Christmas vacations until after the 6th allowing families to celebrate at home.<\/p>\n

Rosca de Reyes<\/h3>\n

As an adult, my favorite part of this tradition is the\u00a0rosca de reyes\u00a0<\/em>which is a delicious bread with fruits.\u00a0<\/em>On January 5th, Mexican families have the\u00a0rosca<\/em> and hot chocolate or\u00a0atole<\/em> for dinner.\u00a0Inside the rosca<\/em>, there are several baby Jesus, and, according to tradition, those who get baby Jesus in their slice, are responsible for the next religious party,\u00a0La Candelaria<\/em> or Candlemas on February 2nd.<\/p>\n

The video below explains in more detail the tradition of the\u00a0reyes magos<\/em> and the\u00a0rosca.<\/em><\/p>\n