The Three Kings – Los Reyes Magos
The Three Kings are Spanish children’s favourite, as Santa may leave them a token gift to open on December 25th, but the Three Kings, leave them their main presents on the night of the 5 January, which they can then open on the Feast of the Epiphany (Día de los Reyes Magos) when the Three Kings arrived in Bethlehem.
There are processions all over Spain on the evening of the 5 January. In cities, towns and even villages, the whole community gathers to greet the arrival of the Three Kings – los Reyes Magos (Wise Men). Caramelos (boiled sweets) are thrown from the procession floats to all the people who come out to watch.
Every town has its own variation to mark their arrival, such as in the Sierra Nevada, where the Three Kings can be seen to ski down to the village. We went to the procession in Loja, Andalucia, a small town that put on an huge procession.
The Three Kings were rather tardy, but it being in Spain, this is quite normal. Luckily the boys entertained themselves and there were a few colourfully dressed characters around to keep them amused. Mayhem thought the cartoon characters were hilarious, then quickly forgot ask about them as he played in the grass. Chaos was totally excited at the prospect of the Three Kings throwing ‘boiling sweets’ for him to catch and eat! He spent most of the time wondering how many sweets he could stuff in his pockets!
When they finally did arrive, they were worth the wait…not for their costumes and rather un-p.c. make-up, or the fact they had a train…but because they had thousands and thousands of caramelos. Here, there and everywhere, caramelos flying through the air!
We seriously did not even try to collect too many and just look…a crazy amount of caramelos!
It looks very flamboyant and lots of fun, hope all those sweets weren’t eaten at once!
It was great fun to take part in such a flamboyant fiesta. They boys went mad for the sweets but we decided to hide them after they became rather wide eyed. The haul should last all year!
I especially love that last photo. That’s exactly how I look when faced with so many sweets 🙂
They truly could not believe how many sweets they collected, definitely in sugar heaven 😀
What an impressive parade! Looks like you guys had a great time! Love the colours #MySundayPhoto
It was such a great parade for a little town, they definitely pulled out all the stops!
This looks like lot’s of fun, so full of colour.
Thank you for linking up
It was so bright and justifiably so for an extravagant Spanish fiesta. Thanks for commenting and for hosting!
Hello from my new phone !
Well done, keep it up 😀
Haha I see what you mean about the un-pc makeup. It definitely looks like a very interesting day though!
It’s quite shocking really, guess they didn’t get the p.c. memo! The kids did enjoy themselves though and it was a fascinating fiesta!
I keep saying that one year we will have to be at my parents for the Three Kings, I’ve not seen the procession in the 11 years they’ve lived in their village. Their Easter processions are stunning #MySundayPhoto
It is definitely worth seeing, just the opulence and sheer amount of sugary sweets are enough to fascinate any watcher. We’ve seen a Semana Santa parade in Velez-Malaga some years and it was truly spectacular, looking forward to seeing out local one here this Easter.
that´s true in Spain Day of Three Kings is really important and for kids they are more important than Santa Claus. So nice to see article and photos from another parade of the three Kings 🙂
I invite also for my post about that celebration in Spain:
https://traveltomeetyourheart.wordpress.com/2017/01/08/feliz-reyes-magos-celebration-of-three-kings-in-spain/
Thank you, glad you liked our post, I will visit your site!
I am welcome and thank you 🙂
So colourful! It looks like a lot of fun for the kids, especially the sweets 🙂