domingo, 27 de diciembre de 2020

Christmas

Merry Christmas 

Sing along with Slade and this hit from 1973.

Christmas is over in some countries on the 26th and parents can relax and children  play with their toys during  the Christmas holidays. Not so in Spain where they still celebrate Old Christmas day, the Epiphany, on the 6th January.

This means that children have to wait until the 6th January to receive their presents as this is the day when  the three kings, the three wise men arrived in Bethlehem bringing their gifts to the child that was going to save the world,

The night before the 6th January in Spain and in Spanish speaking countries there are parades with floats carrying wondrous scenes from children's stories to attract and captivate the children who are lining the streets with their families. But the main attraction are the magnificent  floats carrying Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar, the three kings from the East. It is dark when the parades cabalgatas finish and everyone rushes home with the sweets they have gathered from the parade. Unlike the song above, the children do not hang a stocking on the wall. They put their shoe outside the bedroom door and the magic happens. Year after year. It is a tradition so embedded in their culture that few can make sense of Father Christmas or Santa Claus as we call him in Ireland. The magic goes on  from one generation to the next in Spain where everyone believes in los Reyes Magos.

The question is  ¿Qué te han traído los Reyes Magos? not  'What did Santa bring you?' but  'What did the three Kings bring you?'