Epiphany Children's Parade

The Spanish do not celebrate Christmas the same way the US does. They have a small celebration on Christmas Eve for Jesus's birth but their BIG celebration is actually Epiphany on January 6th. This day commemorates when the three kings visited Jesus and gave him gifts. The kings are the equivalent of our Santa Claus for kids. There are kings at the mall that kids can go and ask for presents from. They write letters to the kings asking for toys and they leave out food for the kings who come at night on Epiphany Eve to deliver presents to the kids while they are sleeping. See the connection?
On Epiphany Eve, the local towns hold parades where the kings go through the streets on floats throwing toys and candy to the kids. And by throwing I mean "baseball pitching" hard candy at you so that you leave with welts on your head. Once the three kings are seen in town, the families must go home and get a good night sleep so that the kings know to visit your house (again Santa Claus-ish). We decided to hit the parade and see what it was like for another culture.


Awaiting the parade to start with our neighbors and good friends, the Olsen's. Yes, we are in the middle of the street. Heaven forbid both sides of the street stay on their respective curbs. Nope. Have to get up close to the action and get as much candy as you can.


Justin got up to higher ground to show the crowds of people waiting for the parade. You can still see us in the middle of the street.


The "marching" band. Not much marching going on with this bunch. A lot of meandering, talking and smoking with the occasional drum beat. They need a lesson from USC.


The first float taken from O's perspective. What does Sponge Bob have to do with Epiphany? Absolutely nothing. But the girls did throw candy and streamers which was nice.


Another float with girls done up. Have no idea what they represent but they did look so pretty.


The mule bringing the presents for Jesus.


And could not resist including one of the kings. This is Balthazar. He was the last and best float as he threw candy and toys down. I tried to catch this ball but some teenage kid beat me to it. As Balthazar was darker skinned than the other 2 kings, they simply painted him black. Yes. He has black paint on him. No. This would NEVER fly in the US.