I admit that Three Kings' Day is not a holiday I observe now that I am in the Iu Es Ei. Mainly because I have no children, and leaving a box of grass under my bed is no longer guaranteed to net me a cassette tape and box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates. Also, I have no family in the country to make me a lechón. Such is life.
But I do want to celebrate it, even if on a small scale, when we have kids. I envision a day where pork is for dinner (although I'm not sure that would be anything special, since I heart pork anyway), and they get gifts just as small but cute as I used to get. I don't know if this is something all kids in PR were told, or if this was just my family, but my mom used to tell me that Three Kings' Day gifts were small because the kings were poor. I thought to myself, "But they're kings. They gave Jesus gold. How could they be poor?" I didn't want to seem petty and greedy, so I kept my thoughts to myself. Then when I was six it hit me -- a poor king is so inconceivable, that these dudes probably don't exist. I asked my mom, and she just looked at me and said,
[SPOILER ALERT]
"Nope."
To those of you in PR: if you are heading to someone's house up in the mountains, where there's a lechón asado and three guys dressed up as Middle Eastern kings giving out presents to the young'uns, I say: I am jealous, and have a great day! And even if you're just going to Guavate for lechón, I'm still jealous. And to those of us away from the island: do you still observe Three Kings' Day with your own families? How do you celebrate it?
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2 comments:
I just called my family and talke and see them via video conference, especially my nieces and nephed opening their gifts. I really miss the day, the food and everything. Yeas, my tree king also were poor...
Feliz dia de reyes!
Todos en la Familia O'Neill-López-White-Vizcarrondo-Santiago-Rosado-Díaz-O'NeillJourdan crecimos con la historia de que los Reyes eran pobres, pero nunca faltaron regalos debajo de nuestras camas. Lo más chulo era ver todas las nenas con sus cajitas de zapatos buscando la yerba para los camellos y cuando llegaba ese día ir a Guaynabo City a buscar los regalos debajo de la cama de los abuelos!!! Un abrazo, Annie
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