Rosca de Reyes is a traditional sweet bread made for Three Kings Day
Our next stop in Explorica’s three-part winter festival series is for Three Kings Day, which is also known as Epiphany. Three Kings Day is a Christian festival that is celebrated twelve days after the birth of Jesus when the three kings are said to have first set eyes on the newborn baby. But if you couldn’t make the Three Kings Day celebrations scheduled for January 6th in Western Europe and the United States, then you’ll have a second chance on January 19th if you head over to Russia. Confused? Well, this is because Christians in Western Europe and the USA adhere to the Gregorian calendar where the birth of Jesus is celebrated on December 25th. Whereas Eastern Orthodox Christians, such as those in Russia, follow the Julian calendar where Jesus’ birthday is January 7th. And it’s not just the day of the Three Kings that is different around the world. Countries celebrate differently, too. In France, people bake little treats called King cake that will break your teeth if you’re not careful. (There’s a porcelain king baked right inside!) And in Puerto Rico, before children go to bed at night on January 5th, they leave a box of hay under their beds to feed the kings’ camels that are said to pass by in the night. In return for this good gesture, children hope to find gifts from the kings when they wake in the morning. Lastly, in Greece people enact an ancient tradition called The Blessing of the Waters where a priest throws a cross as far as he can into a harbor ready for young men to brave the cold and swim out to retrieve it for good luck. The people do for fortune!