THE THREE WISE MEN

Night of magic and illusion, January 5th of each year is the most anticipated day by children in Spain

From the blog donquijote.org I'm going to put your post on the Spanish tradition of  the 3 Wise Men: Melchior, Gaspar and Balthazar.

Beginning of the new year

Once the end-of-year festivities are over and the New Year begins, children in Spain continue to wait for the most important day of the Christmas holidays. Every year, on January 6th, Three Kings Day is celebrated.

Tradition says that the three wise men They were on a mission to go to Bethlehem. They followed a star that showed them the way to see the baby Jesus, who had just been born.

Upon their arrival, these three kings offered three gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. So, every year, When Christmas approaches, all the children begin to write letters to one of the kings (or all three): Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar.

Letter to the Kings

In these letters, children tell the kings how well they behaved during the year and ask for the gifts they would like to receive on January 6.  In theory, the better children behave, the better their gifts will be.But every child knows that if they misbehave, they risk getting a lump of coal.

Every year, the Three Wise Men travel by camel from the East to visit all the children. When they arrive in Spain, several days after New Year's Eve, they go to each of the villages to listen to the children's requests and collect their letters.

The night of January 5th, after having seen the Three Wise Men parade through the city, the children run home to clean their shoes and place them in a good place for the kings to see. That way, the three wise men will know who to leave each gift for.

Night of waiting

Since the Three Wise Men travel such a long distance and have a lot of work to do during the days of January 5th and 6th, families traditionally leave water, turrón (a typical Christmas nougat), and milk for the Three Wise Men and their camels to eat and drink.

Morning of nerves and illusions

The morning of January 6th, Three Kings' Day, the children get up early and are more nervous and excited than usual. They run to the place where they left their shoes to see what gifts they have received from the three kings of the East. Happily they discover that There is no water or milk left and the nougat has been eaten, a sign that the three kings have regained strength. to go back home.

With these traditions, excitement and joy fill every home on Three Kings' Day, and little by little everyone realizes that Christmas has come to an end... see you next year!