Three Kings Day (or “El Día de los Reyes
Magos”) is celebrated on January 6, or the Epiphany, which marks the day when
Catholics believe The Three Wise Men delivered gifts of frankincense, myrrh and
gold to the baby Jesus.
In Latino immigrant neighborhoods, some
Christmas trees are still up, waiting for this last marker of the holiday
season. On La Víspera de Reyes (the
Eve of Three Kings Day) children cut grass to put in a shoe box, adorned it
with flowers and place it by their bed for the camels to eat. Their "wish
list" is placed on top of the grass.
The Reyes only come if the child has
been good all year and if the children are awake they bypass the house.
On this night, children sleep
lightly listening for any strange noises, whispers, or maybe the sound of the
camels' hooves, or any tale-tale signs of the Kings' arrival. Sometime during
the night Los Reyes arrive and quietly leave their gifts for the children while
their camels enjoy their snack.
In the morning the boxes left by
their beds are now empty of grass but filled with gifts. It is a joyful day of
celebration. Later in the day a holiday dinner is prepared and friends and
relatives join in the festivities.
That is the way that it happened throughout
my childhood. When I left Puerto Rico
and had my own family it was extremely important for me to keep this tradition
alive for my children. The madness of
the holiday rush and the continuing force of assimilation did not made it easy.
According
to custom, our Christmas tree went up just before Christmas and remained in
place until the Solemnity of Epiphany. Throughout my children
elementary school years I kept them out of school on “El Dia de los Reyes”. In the
morning we went to mass, during the
day we played traditional tunes and
read the story of epiphany and that night we prepared a traditional Puerto
Rican dinner and invited our friends.
This provided us an opportunity to share our culture and faith with
others.
When my son was about 7 years old he shared
this tradition with our next door neighbor.
He promptly asked his mom for permission to go with us to prepare a box
for the Los Reyes. She played along and he became as he said
“Puerto Rican for a day”.
As parents and guardians of our culture, one
of the responsibilities we have is to educate ourselves, our children and our
communities about our culture. They need
to know about Three Kings Day because it is such a big part of our culture and
faith.
--
Ana
Rodriguez is Communications Manager for USCCB’s Migration and Refugee Services.
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