Three Kings Day Tradition Alive and Well
Posted on 07. Jan, 2010 by Hector Aviles in General
In LatinAmerica, we just celebrated the Three Kings Day yesterday. I beg your pardon for going off topic, as this blog is about Latin music. Music is an vital part of our culture, and this blog is about sharing the passion and knowledge of music I have, and learning together in the process as well. As this helps preserve an essential part of our culture, traditions like Three Kings Day (Los 3 Reyes Magos) also preserve our culture.
This year, Three Kings Day found me in vacation in Mexico. I’ve been in extended vacation through the holidays with little chance of blogging. The strong tradition of Three Kings Day here in Mexico, and what I saw in Puerto Rico before leaving shortly after Christmas day, encourage me to think that we want to preserve our traditions, even when as we beging the 2nd decade of the 21st century.
Traditions to me are important, as they define who we are. My daughters wouldn’t be less “latinas” if eventually they would not pass on the Three Kings Days tradition to their children, when they have some in the future, but they would chip away a bit of what makes such a unique race. For that matter, all races can claim to say the same.
In Mexico, the beautiful tradition of the “rosca de Reyes” (Three Kings bread), in which miniature dolls are placed inside the bread, and whoever finds them must host a tamales dinner in the “Dia de la Candelaria” which occurs in February. Children and adults, all have a great time cutting the “rosca de Reyes” and finding the dolls. We had the “rosca de Reyes” with the traditional hot chocolate, very adequate for the colder temperatures we were experiencing.
We should all strive to keep our traditions alive, and make sure our children participate and enjoy them. In 2010, I will strive to improve LatinoWebCafe to make it a more useful and entretaining blog about Latin music. The more we enjoy our music, the better we’ll help to preserve it.
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