Hello Mary, >> Yes, it is. "Three Kings Day" (Three Wise Men or the Magi) is a >> remnant of older calendars and the original length of the heathen >> Feast of Light celebrated from around winter solstice for about two >> weeks. > > Okay. I knew about Three Kings Day from my days of formally studying > Spanish, but I didn't know that it was the same as Old Christmas Day.
,-- [From: http://www.calendar-updates.com/Holidays/US/threekings.htm ] | | 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 (D�a 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. | | Traditionally in Mexico, 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 of Mexico, 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. Mexican children would awake on January 6 to | find their shoes filled with toys and gifts. | | Also traditional in Mexico is for families to gather together and share | the Rosca de Reyes. The Rosca de Reyes is a crown-shaped sweet bread | decorated with pieces of orange and lime. It is filled with nuts, figs, | and cherries. Hot chocolate is traditionally served with the Rosca de | Reyes. `----- Now, where it says Mexico just read Spain and you'll be able to guess where the Mexicans got these traditions from :-) -- Best regards, Miguel A. Urech (El Escorial - Spain) Using The Bat! v3.0.2.6 on Windows 2000 5.0 Service Pack 4 ________________________________________________________ Current beta is 3.0.2.10 | 'Using TBBETA' information: http://www.silverstones.com/thebat/TBUDLInfo.html IMPORTANT: To register as a Beta tester, use this link first - http://www.ritlabs.com/en/partners/testers/
