Hi everyone and Happy Friday! Today’s post is a repost from last year’s Three Kings Day (Día de los Reyes/Día de los Reyes Magos/Epiphany Day) here. The holiday takes place on Jan. 6. I plan on buying a rosca for my family later on today. Have a great day/weekend, everyone! I’ll see you soon!
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Hi everyone! I hope your Wednesday went well! Today is Three Kings Day or Día de los Reyes. The holiday is also known as Epiphany Day. The day commemorates when the three kings/wise men traveled to visit baby Jesus after his birth. The kings/wise men took gifts to Baby Jesus. Some Hispanic/Latino families celebrate today. They’re opening gifts and having parties. Some open their gifts on January 6th instead of December 25. Some Latino families believe the Three Kings or Baby Jesus brings them gifts. They don’t believe in Santa Claus.
A huge part of the Three Kings Day celebration/tradition is eating rosca. A rosca is an oval-shaped sweet bread/pastry that represents a king’s crown. The rosca includes dried fruit, maraschino cherries and pecans with drizzles of frosting on top of it. This represents jewels on the crown. In my opinion, it kind of tastes like a cinnamon roll without the gooey white frosting on top of it. The bread contains one or two (sometimes more) baby Jesus figurines inside of it. Those who cut into the rosca and find a baby Jesus are expected to host a dinner party on February 2 or Candlemas Day (Día de las Candelarias). The host typically serves tamales, atole (thick hot chocolate) or pozole (a spicy soup with hominy. There are variations to this recipe). Jesus was presented at the Temple on Feb.2. Candlemas Day also celebrates the early life of Jesus.
Even though El Paso is so close to Mexico, I don’t think it’s celebrated here that much. My family doesn’t observe the holiday. Our Christmas decorations are put away on or a couple of days after Three Kings Day. Christmas Day is always celebrated with my family on December 25. Although we believe in the three kings, we believe Santa Claus brings us gifts. A couple of my work colleagues brought in a rosca for everyone this morning. This was the extent of me celebrating Three Kings Day. I didn’t get a baby Jesus when I cut my slice of rosca. Larger cities like New York City host a Three Kings Day parade.
Photo taken by a fellow co-worker.
Life of an El Paso Woman 
Thank you a lot 😀
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I’m following it! 🙂
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Thank you 🙂 And I invite to follow my blog if you like travels 😀
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Thank you! I’ll check it out 🙂
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Really nice post 🙂 So great roscól !
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/
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It is lovely, I’ve read a lot about it. I guess you can say it’s on my bucket list! 🙂
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Michoacan is lovely. I hope you can visit one day 🙂
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That sounds great, Fabiola! I’ve never been anywhere in Mexico except Juarez/Chihuahua. My great grandparents were from Michoacan. I want to go there sometime!
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I love Three Kings Day! The kids wake up to find presents under the tree on January 6th, and it’s like Christmas morning all over again. Then, we all have hot chocolate and a slice of rosca. Aaaaah, I love the perks of living in Mexico! 🙂
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Yeah it has to be fresh for sure! 🖒😉
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I think it was a little stale but it would have been delicious and light when fresh.
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😘😘
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Absolutely! I completely agree with you, Erika! 💖
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This is one of the things I so love and treasure about this place here! It is one world we share here!
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Yes it is still a tradition in Latin America. I think they celebrate it a lot over there. It’s a big deal in Mexico too. What did you think of it?
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Yesterday, the Epiphany, I got the chance to try the Three Kings cake. Our local Argentinean/Venezuelan cafe was serving it. I guess it is still a celebration in Latin America.
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I’ve learned so much on WordPress in nearly two years! 🙂
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I loved to know about yours too, Lisa! I always appreciate to learn more about the many tradition in this big world!
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Yum! The cake over there sounds good, Erika! The rosca we got this year had raisins inside of it. It came with two baby Jesus figurines but they weren’t inside! I guess we’re supposed to put them in but we didn’t. Lol. Your tradition sounds fun and interesting! Thank you for sharing it here! Getting the day off is great too! There’s no day off here.
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Thanks Kerry! I’ll probably take down my tree today or tomorrow. 🙂
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The Three Kings is a holiday over here (so I was off today… yay). We celebrate it with a cake too. it is like several sweet buns baked together (with or without raisins or chocolate chips). One of the buns contains a little plastic king. With every cake, there comes a paper crown. The one who picks the bun with the king gets the crown and is the king for that year! This year my oldest son (the middle one) was the lucky one. Thank you for sharing your tradition here. I did not know about the dinner party. Would be fun!
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We always took down our decorations on or before the 6th which we celebrate as the Epiphany. I love your celebration – it is good to keep some of the old traditions. K x
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To me it kind of tastes like a cinnamon roll.
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OMG! I haven’t seen or had one of those in years. I bet it tastes really good.
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