Feliz Día de Los Reyes Magos....Jan. 6, 2024

[gulfporter]

Edited January 6 by gulfporter
spelling (log)

[gulfporter]

Last night (the big celebration for any holiday is the Eve before) Los Tres Reyes sat in the back of a pickup truck and threw hard candies to the children who lined the streets.  

 

There were slices of free Rosca de Reyes on the Plaza for everyone. 

 

Here are some pics.  The Reyes were from a local bakery and rather plain looking, but that's the old-school way.  The ones sold in stores here are more brightly colored with strong red, white and green decorations from fruits and sugars. 

 

I don't know the significance of the oranges---anyone??

 

 

[TdeV]

@gulfporter, why is the cartoon funny?

[gulfporter]

15 minutes ago, TdeV said:

@gulfporter, why is the cartoon funny?

Every Rosca has a plastic or ceramic Baby Jesus in it.  

[gulfporter]

The "lucky" person who gets the Baby in their slice has to host the next Mexican Catholic holiday, the 2nd of Feb. is Día de Candelaria.  (Not groundhogs day).  

[Smithy]

3 hours ago, gulfporter said:

Every Rosca has a plastic or ceramic Baby Jesus in it.  

 

2 hours ago, gulfporter said:

The "lucky" person who gets the Baby in their slice has to host the next Mexican Catholic holiday, the 2nd of Feb. is Día de Candelaria.  (Not groundhogs day).  

 

Very much like the Mardi Gras King's Cake. I don't remember whether the winner of the Baby has an obligation afterward, as you're describing. That's an interesting tradition. 

 

Thanks for showing the photos. Too bad nobody has answered yet about the significance of the citrus!

[Shelby]

Very interesting.  I knew an Amish man quite well through selling him lumber for years.  They were always closed for Epiphany--a holiday I never had heard of before learning from him.  Being Amish it wasn't the celebration that you're showing, though lol.

 

 

Getting the baby in the King cake is supposed to give you good luck for the next year.  In my house it means you get to do the dishes.

[gulfporter]

Growing up in NE PA in the 50s our city had very ethnic neighborhoods.  My parents called the Epiphany (Jan. 6th), "Russian Christmas" as the Russian Orthodox church celebrated it with Masses that were very well attended. 

 

Whenever my father brought up taking down the Christmas tree, my mother's response was always, "We leave it up through Russian Christmas."  Not sure why she tied it to that, other than back in the 50's in December you often invited (and were invited) to "come by and see our tree."  Guess she wanted to make sure it was up long enough for visitors.

[Shelby]

4 minutes ago, gulfporter said:

Growing up in NE PA in the 50s our city had very ethnic neighborhoods.  My parents called the Epiphany (Jan. 6th), "Russian Christmas" as the Russian Orthodox church celebrated it with Masses that were very well attended. 

 

Whenever my father brought up taking down the Christmas tree, my mother's response was always, "We leave it up through Russian Christmas."  Not sure why she tied it to that, other than back in the 50's in December you often invited (and were invited) to "come by and see our tree."  Guess she wanted to make sure it was up long enough for visitors.

I love this.

 

Also, it gives me a whole other reason to turn the Christmas lights on tonight lol.

[FauxPas]

1 hour ago, Smithy said:

Too bad nobody has answered yet about the significance of the citrus!

 

I don't know for sure, but I know many of the recipes for the Three Kings bread/cake call for orange zest and/or orange blossom water or orange extract. And sometimes dried orange, which I think might represent gold in the "jewels" on the cake and which I think represents power and wealth. Also, it's citrus season, right?  😆

 

But I'd be interested in knowing if I'm on the right track. 

[Smithy]

4 hours ago, gulfporter said:

Growing up in NE PA in the 50s our city had very ethnic neighborhoods.  My parents called the Epiphany (Jan. 6th), "Russian Christmas" as the Russian Orthodox church celebrated it with Masses that were very well attended. 

 

Whenever my father brought up taking down the Christmas tree, my mother's response was always, "We leave it up through Russian Christmas."  Not sure why she tied it to that, other than back in the 50's in December you often invited (and were invited) to "come by and see our tree."  Guess she wanted to make sure it was up long enough for visitors.

 

I dated a man whose mother was Polish. Her family referred to Jan. 6 as "Littlle Christmas" and not only kept the tree up until afterward, but had another round of (small) gift giving on that day.

 

I dumped the man, but kept the tradition of leaving the decorations up until afterward. 12th night, Little Christmas, Epiphany, 12th day of Christmas, and now I have Día de Los Reyes Magos for the same celebratory day! Fun!!

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

Here in Patzcuaro there's always a huge parade on the 5th, the night before Dia del Reyes. Each king has his own float, which is elaborately decorated. The parade begins at the Basilica, processes around Plaza Grande, returns to the Basilica, and then there are elaborate fireworks. (It's not a real celebration without fireworks in Mexico.) The parade is always well attended, and the crowds "vote" for their favorite King based on the float's decorations. 

 

The Rosca del Reyes cake usually has more than one baby Jesus, and because no one wants to host a tamales party on Feb. 2 most people learn to conceal the little plastic figure in their cheeks. The figure originally was ceramic, of course. The stores have been full of boxes of the cakes. I don't expect our neighbors to take down their Christmas lights any time soon. It's a pretty big deal in Mexico because families come south to celebrate with their families and bring mountains of presents. One family next door came from California, because their grandmother, Dona Prisi, is now 101 and becoming increasingly frail. We went to her 100th birthday party for the entire block last year on January 1. She was in a wheelchair then and I hear she's bedridden now. We expect to see the black ribbon over the door one of these days (people hang a black bow over the door to indicate a death). I used to see her outside her little house, pulling weeds or sitting in the sun.

[rotuts]

growing up , there were 12 days of Christmas .  Tree when up Christmas Eve , and came down day after Epiphany.

 

Presents were under the tree ,either brought by Santa , of Chimney fame ,  or later , just under the tree after it was

 

set up.

 

I lived in Spain for two years ,  Gifts were exchanged on Epiphany , not Christmas day .

 

and whoever got the Baby , was guaranteed good luck for the year .  No tamales  , but a lots of Turron  was consumed

 

over the Christmas days.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 7 by rotuts (log)

[rotuts]

a P.S.  :  initially Santa brought the tree , fully decorated , down the chimney w the gifts.

 

my parents were very exhausted Christmas morning for several years.

 

at some point , it was noted that Santa would would appreciate some help ,so the tree went ip Christmas eve ,

 

now the Santa was unburdened w so many decorated tres , he will managed to bring the presents on Christmas Day

 

for a few years.

 

and my sister and I had no idea my parens did all this work .

 

Christmas morning was a very special morning for my sister and I because of their work.