Last year I added Three Kings Day to our semester of holidays (starting with Halloween). Initially I intended to do it because it is a part of Mexican culture and I like Paolo to be exposed to holidays and celebrations he may miss celebrating with his Mexican side of the family. I’ve also realized it’s a nice way to tell the Christmas story in a different way. It’s hard not to tell the story of Christ’s birth and still ‘do’ Three Kings Day… at least with my inquisitive five year old, that is.
Bcause his cousins came for a visit during the holiday season this year we didn’t have time or energy to make Rosca de Reyes, leave carrots or grass for the Three Wise Men’s camels or make any crafts. This year was simpler. We read several times Small Camel Follows the Star . This book
has beautiful illustrations and tells the story of the Three Wise Men/Kings from a small camel’s point of view while journeying to see baby Jesus with Balthazar. We talked about the Three Kings many times, watched a youtube video of a child singing a villancico, and put out Paolo’s shoes on the night of January 5th.
Though it was more low key than last year, it seemed more enjoyable, calmer. Last night, Paolo desperately wanted to wait for the Three Kings to come. He slept on the living room floor, keeping an eye on his shoes until he fell asleep. He was hoping to wake up when they arrived. Instead, he woke up at 5 a.m. to see if they had been here (I assured him they had not) and when we finally did get up he was ecstatic to get one very small gift and a few candies.
***I get many of my Spanish and cultural activity ideas from the blog miscositas.
Leave a Reply