Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Reyes Magos

Well, today I don't have much to tell you... then, I will continue with my trips in the last months. After Xmas and New Year in Japan, I went to Almansa, my home town in Spain, to be with my family and friends on the night of 5th January, which is a special celebration in Spain called Noche de Reyes.

I will tell you a bit of the background of this celebration as many may not know. It is traditionally a religious celebration in which the main characters are the 3 Wise Men who gave presents to Jesuschrist... As I don't care about religion ;-), let's go to the point: it is a night when children get presents (like Xmas night in Saxon cultures) and young people go out all night.

The night starts with a parade in which the 3 wise men and shepards give sweets and small presents to kids. This is called Cabalgata de Reyes. Have a look at the picture:


After that, you go back home, have a nice dinner and go party. If you wanna get some presents, you have to leave your shoes next to a window, a balcony or similar. If you have been a good guy the previous year, you get some presents like this:

For breakfast, we usually take a cake called Roscon de Reyes which has a full story associated with it. As a rough approach, if you are lucky, you can get a nice cardboard crown for one day ;-) Finally, you go to your grandparents' to check if you got some extra presents there.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Decir que, comiendo el roscón, se corona al que obtiene el regalito del rey, y quien encuentra el haba, ha de preparar "cuartos" para pagar el roscón del año (tengo eñes!) que viene. De ahí lo de tonto l'haba.
Según la tradición española (ñññ).

A ver que le cuentas al mundo sobre fiestas de Mayo.

Un abrazo!

Julio said...

LOL
No me sabía lo de tonto l'haba. Siempre había tenido curiosidad por saber de donde venía, es que en mi casa no sale ningún haba, sólo regalos cutres y figuritas deformes que no valen ni para los huevos Kinder.

Salud