Fuegos Artificiales Cabalgata de los Reyes Magos 2

Posted by Hitesh Sawlani (Madrid, Spain) on 7 January 2009 in Lifestyle & Culture.

The Three Kings (Magi Sants) parade is an annual tradition in Spain remembering the day when the Three Kings following the star to Bethlehem, arrived bearing their treasured gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh for the Baby Jesus.

They are also known as Three Wise Men, Three Kings or Kings from the East. Before Coca Cola made Santa Claus popular around the World gifts were commonly given to children on the 6th of January on the day of "Reyes". Nowdays kids get presents twice, both on the 25th of December and again on the 6th of January. Typically they will get more presents on the 6th of January or broke parents will only give them presents on the 6th of January.

I've only been able to see the parade in person once in my childhood, unfortunately my whole family works during this time in the family business as its peak season (gift items). This year's slowdown in sales (thank you sub-prime mortgage market in the USA) has hit small businesses in all markets. In any case, this gave me an opportunity to leave early and catch the last 20minutes of the parade. Instead of opting to fight the crowds, screaming children and tired parents I stayed back and setup for the fireworks after the speech delivered by the three kings in front of the "Palacio de las Communicaciones"; which is the HQ of the City Council (formerly the HQ for the post office).

All photos in this blog are under copyright of Hitesh Sawlani. Email: sawlani [AT] gmail [DOT] com

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