Today marks the end of the Christmas season in Spain and families and communities celebrate by continuing age-old traditions from parades to gift giving and much festive eating and drinking. It is the equivalent of Christmas Day for us. The Three Kings or ‘Los Reyes Magos’ stems from the Christian tradition and is at the heart of the Epiphany celebration. Every year, children eagerly await the arrival of The Three Kings who bring gifts, much like Santa Claus.
The Kings Parade, which weaved its way through the through the narrow streets of Pamplona last night, was a riot of colour and noise. Despite the heavy rain the participants kept smiling, dancing, playing their instruments and showering, sometimes pelting, the crowds lining the route with sweets. Ornate floats, dancers, acrobats, drumming bands, horses and even 3 live camels formed part of the hour long procession.
We noticed many people carrying boxes from the local patisserie’s and discovered these contain a traditional cake eaten on Three Kings Day called ‘Roscon de Reyes’. It is a sweet brioche-like cake filled with cream and decorated with candied fruit. They were huge and would fill the little fridge in our van so we didn’t buy one but we did snack on some pintxos and churros from a local bar whilst waiting for the parade to come past us. 😋
Happy Christmas….. again!!
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