Dia de Los Reyes

Oh, no! Not another Mexican fiesta!

Oh, yes! January 6, is Three Kings Day. Like most holidays that mirror Catholic feast days, Dia de Los Reyes was introduced by priests from Spain as early as 1521. It is a day that honors the legend of the Three Wise Men, who followed a star to Bethlehem and presented gifts to the Baby Jesus. 

Children in rural areas traditionally receive gifts on Three Kings Day ~ often candy, clothing and school supplies. They write letters to the Three Kings and place the letters in their shoes, next to a small dish of straw for the kings’ camels. It is an endearing tradition that is celebrated in homes and businesses and is marked by a Rosca de Reyes, a King’s Cake. 

The King’s Cake is baked in the shape of a crown and has a small doll inside, which represents the infant Jesus hidden from King Herod’s troops. The cakes are decorated with candied fruit to look like a crown’s jewels. Tradition says that the person who gets the slice of cake with the doll inside must provide tamales for Día de la Candelaria in February.

Children return to school every year on January 7th. They are happy to see their classmates, to talk about the gifts they received and tell how they celebrated the holidays.

Public schools in Mexico are very different from schools in the United States. All children wear uniforms. Some teachers are well-trained but others inherit their positions from family members in government sanctioned nepotism. Children go to school only four hours/day, either in the morning or the afternoon. They don’t go to public libraries or have books to read at home. A favorite activity for girls is coloring, while boys prefer to play outside. Children often fail grades and it is not unusual for students to be thirteen years old and still in elementary school. By the time these students are ready for middle school, the girls are well-developed and gorgeous. They boys have broad shoulders and facial hair.

When I worked in Colorado public schools, niños like Neto were considered “hard and fast” little boys. Although he was bright and loved to learn, Neto was expelled from kindergarten after just one day and sent to a military school in Tepic, a busy city five hours away. 

Neto tells the story of, Mudo, a classmate he met when he returned to Mazatlán at the end of fourth grade. By that time Neto was a hard-working, well-disciplined student who had been in a military classroom eight hours/day for the past three years. He surely was the most advanced student in his class.

Mudo was given his nickname (mute) because he never spoke. Their teacher, Enrique, maintained discipline by walking around the classroom with a ruler, hitting boys who were not paying attention or were causing a disturbance. Enrique was a small man, smaller than either Mudo or his friend, Bebe, who were clearly much older than Neto. 

One day, Mudo had enough. Just as Enrique raised his arm to hit Bebe with his ruler, Mudo stood up at his seat, walked over to the teacher, silently took the ruler out of his hand and punched him hard in the jaw. School was dismissed for the day and Mudo left school to go to work with his father. It was a dramatic end to his school career.