Three Kings

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• Published on Tuesday, 06 December 2011 23:49
• By Gayle Hanson

IF YOU arrive in Oaxaca too late for the Night of the Radishes and  Noche Buena, the good news is that the Christmas holiday lasts until February. And for many Oaxaqueños, the real gift giving isn’t done until January.

Following Noche Buena and the Mass of the Roosters, Christmas Day itself can be a bit of a letdown for visitors. In terms of color, parades and noise, there’s just not that much going on. Not so, however, on January 6, when the Dia de los Reyes Magos (Three Kings’ Day) is celebrated.

This is the time for fesating and celebrating and is traditionally the day on which Mexican children receive gifts.

The day commemorates the arrival of the three kings—Melchor, Gaspar, Balthazar—at the manger in Bethlehem to pay homage to the Christ child with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Though Santa Claus is making inroads in Mexico, many children still leave out their shoes for presents on the night before Three Kings’ Day.

The celebration, as usual, involves a great deal of feasting. The featured food item is a cake shaped like a crown and often filled with fruits and nuts. Mind where you sink your teeth, however, as each cake has a tiny baby-Jesus inside. The idea is that whoever gets the slice with the figure must pay for the next big party on February 2—Candlemas Day. Often several baby Jesuses are baked into the cake in order to spread the cost of the Candlemas celebrations among friends.

Candlemas officially marks the end of the Christmas season and is an important religious holiday throughout Latin America. It is the day on which all the candles for use in church are blessed, and marks the day that the Virgin Mary arose from her birthing bed to present the baby Jesus at the Temple. In Oaxaca, it is a time for godparents to accompany their godchildren to church, and when a feast of tamales and hot chocolate is enjoyed by all.

Candlemas also represents the mid-point between winter and spring and, as on Groundhog Day in the US, the weather on the day determines what the next six weeks will hold.