Celebrating Día de los Reyes

Camels, shoes, gifts, and cake… don’t worry this is not a new online challenge where you try to feed these to a camel, but you might have a slightly puzzled look on your face. Yet, in some Latin-American cultures this is what kids have been looking forward to all year. They hear this and pick out their biggest shoes, run to the door, and set them front and center so that the three kings do not miss them, because it’s finally Día de los Reyes! 

Why are we talking about Día de los Reyes and what is it? At Casa, one of our core values is pioneering interculturality. We want our children to have exposure, be curious, and understand different traditions around the world. Many of our teachers celebrated this holiday growing up, and they look forward to sharing their traditions and answering all intriguing questions.

Dia de los Reyes:

• Celebrated on January 6 in various Latin-American countries. 
• It is similar to the Christmas holiday, kids receive presents the following morning. 
• This day is celebrated by cutting a piece of the Rosca cake. Typically there is a plastic figurine of a baby inside the cake and someone lucky will get it.
• You can join us and try a piece of the Rosca cake and hot chocolate at Casa during drop-off!

Día de los Reyes is celebrated on January 6. The story talks of three kings, Melchor, Balthazar, and Caspar, who followed a star for 12 days through the desert to greet baby Jesus. Once they arrived, they gifted him gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 

In some cultures children leave a shoe the night before by their doorstep in hopes that the kings will leave them gifts and treats to open the following morning. Some children attempt to lure the king’s camels into their home by leaving hay, water, or fruit.  

So that explains the camels, shoes, gifts, but not the cake. The cake, or Rosca de Reyes, is circular, representing a crown. One person will hide a little plastic figure of a baby inside the cake. Families will nervously circle around to cut a piece, and the moment of truth finally comes… when everyone takes a bite. People will look around or will inspect your mouth, depending on how close of a family you are, to see who got the baby. In Mexico, the person that did must host a party on February 2. A nice way to keep the holiday season going!