Hispanics stretch holiday season with 'El Dia de los Reyes'

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HOUSTON—Hispanics in Houston celebrate ‘El Dia de los Reyes’ every year on January 6. 

The literal translation is “The Day of the Three Kings,” or the day of the “Epiphany,” but in Latin American countries it means so much more. It’s a tradition full of color, festivities and good food.

Children from Mexico and other Latin American countries love this day because it means surprise gifts during the holiday season.

Adults love the tradition because it means more food and holiday parties.  Mexican children don’t have stockings, but on the eve of El Dia de los Reyes they polish their shoes, fill them with hay, make a wish list and put their shoes under the Christmas tree.

Cookies and milk are also offered to the Three Wise Men: Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar.

On January 6, the belief is that the Three Kings visit homes, eat the cookies and milk, feed their camels the hay, and leave gifts for the kids. On the morning of January 6, children open their gifts.  Hispanic families invite friends and family for dinner and for dessert—always a “Rosca de Reyes,” or a pastry that looks like a giant donut.   

La Rosca is sweet bread that is decorated with colorful fruit, but the party is inside the bread.

A plastic baby figurine, representing baby Jesus, is hidden inside the Rosca, and it symbolizes the need for a safe place for Jesus to be born.

Each person takes a slice of the Rosca, but they hope not to find the baby Jesus in their piece.  That’s because the person who finds Jesus has to host a party on February 2. 

So the caretaker of baby Jesus, the person who finds the plastic baby figurine, commits to host a party on El Dia de la Candelaria, or Candle Mass Day, on February 2.  And that’s how the Christmas season is stretched in Hispanic households.