Today is 6th. January. Epiphany. The twelve days of Christmas are over and I must take down the coloured lights from the front of the house. Maureen decided the Christmas tree had to go on Friday and it now lies abandoned on the patio waiting for me to get the shredder out.
In Álora, where I am not, it is el día de los Reyes Magos del Oriente, or Reyes Magos for short. Today is the day when Spanish children receive their Christmas presents. Last night the cabalgata (cavalcade) will have passed through the streets with the three kings and their pajes (pages or servants) on decorated floats pulled by tractors or 4x4s. I will add some photos when they appear later today on the Alora website http://www.alora.es/Inicio/N.asp?IdArticulo=4145.
The pajes, (usually pretty young things) throw caramelos (sweets) to the crowds lining the streets. The last time we were there for Christmas we stood in our open doorway, expecting a good shower of sweets to land in the hall, (very handy for next year's Halloween). The caramelos are rock hard and thrown with some force and sting when they hit you in the face. They could take your eye out!
In Cádiz the kings ride on camels and the Madrid cabalgata is screened on national television. The first recorded cabalgata in Spain was in Alcoy in Alicante province (1886) a town which has no other claim to fame than being the origin of the rarely heard saying:
tener más moral que el Alcoyano ("to have a greater morale than Alcoyano") which refers to a 'famous' football match played by FC Alcoyano when the losing home team begged the referee to allow extra time so that they could scrape a draw.
Last week Los Reyes found time to set up shop in the Casa de Cultura so that hundreds of young Perotes could deliver their Christmas wish lists. Then off they went to spread good cheer at two of Álora's residencias (old people's homes).
In Spain the Reyes are supposed to represent three different continents, Africa (Balthazar), Asia (Caspar) and Europe (Melchior). Many Chinese Christians believe that one of them came from China. In Spain there has been growing concern that Balthazar is usually played by someone in 'blackface' and there has been a move away from this practice. In Alora we have a 'genuinely ' black'
Balthazar. And four servants too!
The current pope, Benedict XVI or Joseph Ratziger as he is always referred to in Spain has caused a bit of a stir down our way by saying in his book 'The Childhood of Jesus' that the three wise men came from Andalucía http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2012/11/28/andalucia/1354129464.html which is, of course, to the west of Bethlehem.
Incidentally the only suggestion of there being three in number comes from Matthew's gospel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_2:1 where three gifts are mentioned. It has just been presumed that they had a gift each. Matthew is the only one of the canonical gospels to mention the Magi; a word meaning 'wise men' or 'sorcerers' which goes back from Latin to Greek to Persian.
By 500AD. they had been promoted to kings.
The word magi is the plural of Latin magus, borrowed from Greek μάγος magos,[6] as used in the original Greek text of the Gospel of Matthew. Greek magos itself is derived from Old Persian maguŝ from the Avestan magâunô, i.e., the religious caste into which Zoroaster was born. (Wikipedia).
Watch out for those caramelos. They hurt
Please note the warm sunny weather.
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