How good was that?

Last night on Canal 9 we watched the parade of the Three Kings in Alcoi.

While more and more homes in Spain receive visits from Papa Noel at Christmas, the 6th of January is traditionally the time when children receive their gifts, brought to them on the Día de los Reyes, the Day of the Kings, by the Three Kings, the Reyes Magos. Traditionally there is a parade through the streets, the so called “Cabalgata de los Reyes Magos” which takes place as dusk falls on 5th January. In towns throughout the country, crowds of children eagerly follow the processions keen to collect the rain of sweets and gifts thrown down by Sus Majestades.

What was special last night though was watching the cabalgata in Alcoi, the oldest in Spain, and possibly, the Town Hall says, even the world. It’s been celebrated without interruption since 1885. In fact the Three Wise Men’s first entrance into the town is documented as having taken place almost two decades previously, in 1866. Those guys must be getting old by now!

Declared a Fiesta of National Tourist Interest in 2001, the procession today involves more than one thousand locals, playing the part of pages, torch bearers, servants and soldiers from their majesties’ personal guard, the local music and dance groups …. and, of course, the most important roles of Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar, riding slowly through the town on their camels. As they parade, babies and children are hoisted up by their parents to kiss the Kings.

The fun all started the day before when the arrival of the Kings was officially announced by the Royal Envoy reading out a proclamation throughout the town. When the children heard the proclamation, they would have rushed out to post their letters to the Reyes Magos in the letterboxes carried on the backs of the donkeys that accompanied the Envoy along the route.The letters would then have been diligently read by Sus Majestades.

Last night it was the black faced royal pages, known as ‘els negres’ who had the job of fulfilling the requests by handing out the presents to the children. The hundreds of packages to be delivered were carried along in the lorries which followed the procession. The pages ran through the streets delivering the gifts in many cases by scaling long wooden ladders, climbing over the balconies of houses to the delight of the waiting children.

It was a totally unique occasion, well worth watching.