Three Kings Day

Ever wonder about the "12 days of Christmas"? Well, those are December 25th through the "Día de los Reyes Magos" (Three King's Day), which is today. Of course, just like with Christmas, we celebrate it the night before. As soon as Christmas is over, Santa Claus mysteriously disappears from television ads and shop windows to be replaced by Baltasar, Melchor, and Gaspar. You're supposed to leave your shoes out on the night of the 5th, and the three kings will bring you gifts and leave them in your shoes. The night of the 5th (and, well, a bunch of days before and the 6th too, since Mexicans like to extend their holidays as much as possible), we have "rosca de reyes" (pictured here). Inside is a little plastic baby Jesus. Whoever gets this doll is then obligated to host a party the "Día de la Candelaria," February 2nd. Supposedly before instead of a baby Jesus they used a bean. Now they go nuts and put in several dolls. One year we practically had the whole manger, three kings and all. This year it turned out Jesus was a triplet.