THE THREE MAGIC KINGS!!!!!

Cardedeu, 18th December 2009 And 5th January 2010

It all starts some two weeks before Christmas, when children write their letters to the Three Wise Men, who will come on

the 6th of January. In big cities like Barcelona, there are pages in many places who are responsible for getting the letters, although nobody knows exactly where the Three

Wise Men live.Waiting for the Epiphany can be very, very long for the

youngest in the family, so in some homes they try to make it shorter by making the three wise men advance, little by little, in their "Belenes" (A tableau representing the Nativity scene, which can be extremely elaborated). In the Catalan tradition, one of the ceramic or plastic figures that is always present in

every Belen is a shepherd who is actually poohing, that is called "caganer". (No joke!)

First some info:

The evening of the 5th of January is simply magic. In all the villages and cities in Spain there are big parades and

children pour the streets to welcome The Three Wise Men or "Magic Kings" – Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar. Even

though Their Majesties are going to have a very busy night ahead, giving out all the presents they have brought, they will still take some time to greet the children and distribute tons

of candy during the parade. The parade is very big, with many floats. In it you can

actually see all presents for every good child in town, the coal for the naughty kids, and all the letters children have written. Besides, there is a float for each of the Kings...

because they are Kings, and no regular ones. Then, there is a a great entourage of pages, too. The parade or cavalcade,

represents the route the Three Wise Men made to find the Holy Child, following the Christmas Star, too.

Of course, in Spain we know how to treat Kings, and do so with honour and ceremony. The mayor in every city, town or village is always there to welcome them, throw a speech and give them the

keys to the city. That is extremely important, because nobody wants them to have trouble accessing any home, especially if there are

children in it.In Barcelona there are about a dozen parades, but in the biggest

one they arrive by boat and tour the city center.When the parade is over, children go back home, where they make sure they leave some water for the camels. For the Kings and pages

it is important to leave some brandy, cava (our champagne) or Coca-cola (one never knows what Kings actually like drinking...). It is important to leave something to eat, too, as they might feel hungry.

The commonest choice are nougat and marzipan, which are Christmas sweets.

Then children go to sleep, hoping that nothing will go wrong, and that they will get the presents they asked for in their letters, although

they are a bit anxious they might get some coal, too...

THE THREE MAGIC

KINGS!!!!!Cardedeu, 18th December 2009 And 5th January 2010

According to the tradition, they are

three Kings:

-Melcior, the white king, he has the hairs and the beard long and completely white, dress goes with a tunic of hyacinth color and with an orange cape, he’s from European origin, and offered the gold to Jesus.

-Gaspar, the blond king, he is young, beautiful, has white and pink skin, and brown hairs, like Melcior dress goes according to the Gothic style, dressing an orange tunic and a red cape, he is from Asian origin, and offered the incense to Jesus.

-Baltasar, the black king, he dresses according to the style of the Arabs, brings a red tunic and a marbled white cape, he’s from African origin, and his offer to Jesus was the myrrh.

The Page:The Page are some magical characters in the service of the Three Kings, and their missions are:-To announce the next arrived of the 3 kings. -To pick up the letters that take the children and girls to them. -To give them to Melcior, Gaspar and Baltasar,-Watching if the children and girls behave well.

Afterwards the ride; where each King goes with his coach and their pages, and they distribute candies to all people!!!! And during the night they go through the houses leaving the gifts. In the smallest populations, the gifts are already distributed during the ride. The night of Kings children have to go to sleep early to let work with more calmly to the Kings, and it is necessary that the Kings know in what houses there are children, so, a slipper is left for each boy on the balcony. As the night is very long, the Kings and their camels will have thirsty and hungry, a plate with water has to be left for the camels, and a dish with nougats and some champagne for the kings, as a gratitude.

This year the ride was SUPER!!!!!

Do you want to know why????

The 3 magic kings arrived to our village!!!!!!!!

• The three magics kings arrived by train to

the train station. And we, the students of 6th class of Granés school were the pages.

Small children

are waiting their

arrival!!!!!

Children waiting next to the train station to hand over their letter to one of the kings!!!!

MEANWHILE…..

The pages, we, started dressing up before the kings come to our village!!!All were ready to start the celebration!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ready!!!!!

When the 3 Magic Kings arrived to the train station, the pages went up to the larry with all presents!!!!!

We throw loooootsOf sweets

To allChildren!!!!

We went to the whole village!!!

There were many people in the streets

The larry drived to all streets of the village and the pages throw thousand of sweets to children and parents.

Finally we arrived to the Town Hall!The Royal Pages were waiting the 3 KingsThe Mayoress recived them

The three magic kings arriving to the Town hall.

The pages were with street light.

The pages went with kings

to the crib adoration!

The three magic kings arriving to the crib.

The ride

Kings giving sweets!!!!!

Children waiting to hand over their letter to one of the kings!!!!

The three magic king talking to all the people of the village.

The magic white king.

MELCIOR

The blond magic king.

GASPAR

The black magic king.

BALTASAR

The three kings

All the pages

Having fun!!!

ON THE NIGHT THE THREE MAGIC KINGS GO TO ALL THE HOUSES AND GIVE THE PRESENTS…

AND THE PEOPLE WILL OPEN THE PRESENTS.

Meanwhile in our

school...

Our pages arrived on the 18th of December!!!!!!

Three of our six level pupils convert into pages for the smallest children,

just for one day (Anass, David and Estefania) !!!!!

Some kids are afraid of them!!!!!

Some others are expecting!!!!

It’s the turn to hand over their

letters for the Kings!!!!

All children are very pleased!!!!

The pages have a hard and really nice work to do!!!!!

They pick up the letters for the Kings and give some sweets.

There are 150 small children expecting for the pages!!!!!

The typical letter to the Kings!!!!!

An example of a letter,

written by a 8 years old

kid!!!!

Another from a

21 years

old one!!!!

Dear three Magic Kings!!!!!As you know, this last year I was always a very good boy!!!!You know I’m studying in the University to be a doctor, and my results are excellent, also, I tried to help my family all time I could!!!!!! So, let me ask you for some things I wish!!!!!!-Something for my guitar!!!!Books: It doesn’t matter why, someone, about history, medicine, classicals, etc.A chair for my desk!.A pair of trainers for basketball!!!Clothes!!!! All kind, specially trousers!Some games for my computer : Fifa 2008, NBAlive 2008 ….A map of Catalonia, to hang on my bedroom!.  I will thank you a lot for all presents you could give me, it doesn’t matter if the ones I like you finished before arriving to my house!!!!! Sincerely,PB

Naughty children will get only some coal!!!!!!

They must begood boys and girls!!!!!

But,…, a special one, made by sugar

The ring-shaped cake of Kings is a typical cake of the Catalan cuisine in the form of ring, made of puff pastry and filling of marzipan with fruit door, candied, pine kernels and sugar above, and it is decorated with a crown golden in the center of the cake. It is habitual to eat it on 6 January, to celebrate the day of the Kings. This ring-shaped cake contains two hidden surprises: a dry bean and a figurine (normally of one of the Kings). According to the tradition, that who finds the figurine in their piece is crowned, and that one who finds the bean is that have to pay the ring-shaped cake.

Our typical cake on kings day

We hope you like our traditions!!!!!

We love this day!!!!!

See you!!!!!