El Dia De Reyes Part I

My kids look forward with more anticipation to El Dia de Reyes than they do Christmas. Our celebration of El Dia de Reyes starts out on the evening of January 5. All of our Christmas decorations are put away, EXCEPT for the nativity. On the evening of January 5, the Dominican tradition is to set out wine, a cigar, and something to eat for the Three Magi who have traveled from afar. And then we can't forget the camels . . . they need hay and water. Our LDS/Dominicanized version of El Dia de Reyes is to set out 3 caramelos (mints or other sweets), a glass of water for the Magi, and grass, palm fronds or whatever else we happen to invent the the camels would like to eat after their long journey.

El Dia De Reyes remembers the day when the Three Wise Men followed the star to Bethlehem and arrived bearing their gifts for Baby Jesus. Dominicans do not celebrate Christmas with Santa. In fact, there is NO gift exchange other than the new shirt or pair of pants that Dominican children get to open up on Christmas morning as a gift FROM THEIR PARENTS. On the morning of January 6, Dominican children wake up excited to see what GIFT (as in not twenty bazillion gifts like Santa tends to bring) the Three Wise Men have brought them.

As a side note, when Tino was younger, he was TERRIFIED of the camels. He did not want the camels to come inside of his room and poop, slobber, or leave their dirty hoof prints in his pristine clean room. So instead of having the Three Wise Men leave a gift under his bed, they started leaving the gift right next to the door where we had left the food and water for the wisemen and camels.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's version of our Dominican celebration this year intertwined with the way our Mexican friends celebrate Dia de los Reyes.