Children in Spain have to wait a little longer for their Christmas presents than their UK or USA counterparts because it’s not Father Christmas or Santa Claus that brings presents but ‘Los Reyes Magos’. The three kings arrive in the very early hours of January 6th when all good children should be fast asleep. Children write letters to them in December asking for the presents that they want, and if they are very good, they get them. Naughty children are supposed to get coal instead of presents.
Biblical Kings Visited Baby Jesus
The three kings in the Bible travelled from the East, following a star to find the Baby Jesus and bring him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Traditionally, the three kings are Melchor, the oldest king who is represented with white hair and a full white beard, Gaspar who is middle aged and has blonde hair and beard and Balthasar who is the youngest and who is black. As with Santa Claus, in these days of commercialisation of Christmas, ’Los Reyes Magos’ can be spotted in shopping centres and on television advertisements long before Christmas.
Cabalgata de Los Reyes
Most towns have a parade, called the ‘Cabalgata de los Reyes’, on the evening of the 5th January featuring the kings and their entourages. In some parades the kings ride on floats, in others on horseback or even on camels. The biggest parade of all is in Madrid, a truly spectacular event that takes some hours to pass through the streets and involves all kinds of amazing mechanical attractions, floating balloons and real camels and horses. The streets of Madrid are packed and the parade is featured on all the main television channels.
Children in smaller towns and villages, and their doting families, gather on the streets to watch the local parade go by with great excitement. Usually the Kings and their companions throw sweets to the children, with the more enterprising children taking along bags to collect the sweets.
When they go home to bed, in some houses children leave shoes outside the door to show how many children there are in the house. They also leave out treats for the kings and maybe some grass or carrots for the kings’ horses and camels. Then on the morning of the 6th, children wake up early to rip the wrapping off their presents.
Roscón de Reyes
Traditionally, a special cake called ‘Roscón de Reyes’ is eaten on 6th January. It’s made in a circle from a type of dough and is decorated with sugar and jelly sweets. Lucky charms are hidden inside and if you should be the person to find the charm, you will have good luck all year, or so the tradition says.
In some Spanish homes, the children actually get two lots of presents, firstly something small brought on Christmas day by Santa Claus, known as Papa Noél in Spanish, and then their large presents on 6th January, but this is very much a recent development.
Amanda Payne - By Amanda Payne: Topic Editor for European Affairs. Amanda is a freelance writer with a special interest in Spain and all things ...
