January 6th – Day of the Magi Kings (Día de los Reyes Magos)

 
The Day of the Magi Kings (Epiphany) celebrated on January 6th in Mexico is a cultural, not statutory, holiday.  Employees do not receive a day off (with or without pay).  Banks, schools, government offices, and most businesses are open as usual.

In Mexican tradition gifts are given on the Día de los Reyes Magos (Day of the Magi Kings), which is held on January 6th  with gifts coming from the Magi Kings, not Santa Claus.  Or at least that used to be the tradition in Mexico before Santa Claus and his tiny reindeer started entering Mexican airspace.  

These days the custom of Santa Claus bringing gifts has become commonplace.  Now gifts are given on either or both days, and, especially in Northern Mexico, gifts are more likely to come from Santa Claus on December 25th rather than from the Magi on January 6th.  Children receiving gifts from the Magi address their wish list to the Niño Jesus (Baby Jesus) whereas children receiving gifts from Santa Claus address their wish list to Santa Claus.

This festival correlates with the Magi (wise men) who gave gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the baby Jesus while he lay in the manger.   The gold indicated Jesus was the rightful king of Jews as kings receive gold from their subjects in the form of tribute and taxes.  Frankincense is the incense that was burned in Soloman’s temple and was given in acknowledgement of Jesus’ spiritual role as a religious teacher and priest.  Myrrh is used to embalm the dead and was given in anticipation of the death of the Christ child which is seen by Christians as being an atoning sacrifice for the sins of mankind making reconciliation with God the Father possible for the repentant.  

January 6th is also the day of the Epiphany.  For Catholics--as well as those of some other Christian dominations--the Epiphany is the manifestation of the divine nature of Jesus to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi and the significance of their gifts (as explained above).

Part of the tradition celebrating the Day of the Magi Kings is for family and friends to gather together and partake of hot chocolate together with specially made bread (which most people purchase from a local bakery instead of making it at home) called Rosca de Reyes bread. (This is sometimes called a merienda, a Spanish word meaning a small meal.)  

The Rosca de Reyes (king's bread) is a wreath of sweet bread with contains one or more plastic dolls or similar objects representing the baby Jesus.  (Originally the bread contained a coin, often a gold coin, representing the baby Jesus.  Sometimes bakeries, to increase sales, will hide a gold coin in one of their Rosca de Reyes breads.  People will then flock to the bakery hoping to be the lucky person who purchases the Rosca de Rey containing the gold coin.)  

The bread is cut with a knife symbolizing the danger Jesus faced at his birth from the enmity of Herod, the Great.  (According to the Biblical account, when Herod heard from the Magi that the rightful King of the Jews had been born in Bethlehem he had all male children born in Bethlehem under age two put to death hoping this would eliminate a potential challenge to his throne.)  Whoever gets the coin buried within the Rosca de Reyes bread must throw a party on the Día de la Candelaría (Candlemas Day) which is celebrated on February 2nd..    

When the Rosca de Rey bread contains multiple objects there is a protocol, based on who receives what object and the order in which the objects are discovered, that determines who does what for the Candelmas fiesta.  In reality when there are multiple objects in the Rosca de Rey bread the Candlemas fiesta is planned by a committee composed of the señoras (adult woman) who either in person or vicariously through a family member received an object in their Rosca de Rey bread.

In Tijuana there is usually a parade on Paseo de los Héroes, in Zona Rio, on January 6th.  It's fun to watch.

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Although it is fairly low key, this has become one of my favorite holidays.  

-- Modified on 1/3/2018 8:44:28 PM