Three Kings Day Parade 2008 in New York City
Three Kings Day Parade 2008 in New York City
Three Kings Day Parade in NYC, New York, USA
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Three Kings Day Parade 2008
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Three Kings Day Parade 2008
4, 6 January, 2008
Three Kings Day is celebrated on January 6th, twelve days after Christmas. It is often viewed as the last day of the Christmas season (the end of the 12 days of Christmas).
Also known as The Epiphany, Three Kings Day (Día de los Reyes) is a Christian celebration that commemorates the Biblical story of the three kings who followed the star of Bethlehem to bring gifts to the Christ child. According to the Biblical story, the Three Kings – named Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar – presented the Baby Jesus with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Three Kings Day was the gift-giving time, rather than Christmas day. Just as it is common for children to leave cookies for Santa in the U.S., in some regions, it was customary for children to leave their shoes out on the night of January 5, often filling them with hay for the camels, in hopes that the Three Kings would be generous. Children would awake on January 6 to find their shoes filled with toys and gifts.
Filling the streets of Spanish Harlem with camels, sheep, donkeys, hoards of schoolchildren, men dressed as kings and Latin music, the Three Kings Day Parade is a thoroughly colourful and festive Christmas affair, Latin American-style. A community celebration the next day at el Museo del Barrio offers family entertainment.
In Latin America, as in Puerto Rico, the Caribbean and Spain, 6 January is a festive day of the Nativity season. It commemorates the day the three kings visited baby Jesus. Arriving on camels, elephants and horses, Melchior, Caspar and Baltazar brought gifts for Jesus and declared him the Messiah. In celebration today, children leave hay by their bedsides the night before as a treat for the animals and anxiously await the next morning’s presents.
Location
Manhattan
El Museo del Barrio, New York City
Hours
Parade Fri 10am;
community celebration Sat 1.30pm-4.30pm
More Info
ThreeKings@elmuseo.org