Three Kings and New Years

 Santa V/s Three Kings

To the chagrin of your average American kid Spanish kids receive presents twice over the Christmas holidays. They will get a few small presents on Christmas day delivered by the word famous Santa. Then 12 days later on January 6th they get a bigger haul of presents curtesy of the 3 kings. 

Thanks to my mother in law I was somewhat familiar with the idea that Spain celebrates Christmas for 12 days. (I bet you are singing the song to yourself now. 😂)  But I didn't really know much about celebration of 3 kings.  Per some of our friends, teenage boys no longer believe in Santa but they still are all in on 3 kings....presents tend to be food related. So we had a little last minute 3 kings celebration day with treats. We will give it a whirl next year as well with a bit more planning. Maybe split the regular presents between the two days?

I cannot find any information about the royal mailboxes that popped up around the country. Which makes me think I may be confusing and combining two things but either way this/they is/are interesting to me.

Old fashion red metal post boxes appeared in town centers all over Spain. I heard them referred to as the Royal post boxes and that any one could put in a letter to the royals and that they would read them. I also heard them called postboxes for the 3 kings where kids could mail their letters for the 3 kings. Either way I think they are cool and plan to take some photos next year and maybe get some clarity on the subject.

Holiday Card Shoutout

We received 1 holiday card from the US. An old Peace Corps buddy of mine and his awesome wife managed to get their annual Christmas card and letter across the Atlantic. It may be April but we still have it hanging up in our front room.

New Years 

I have lived in various cities over the years but always in a more less dense urban situation than here in Zaragoza. Louisville and Zaragoza have similar population sizes but I can walk from one end of Zaragoza to the other in between 45 minutes to an hour. Single family houses are not really a thing here. That leads to the density factor of life. Viviendas (tall condo-esc buildings) are the norm. So balconies are quasi public private spaces. I regularly enjoy the caged parakeets on our neighbors balcony. By neighbor I mean the elderly guy who lives in the next building over and 1 floor down. Our building are joined forming a corner so we have a great view of his birds.

There is a community building aspect to seeing our neighbors out watching a passing parade, bike race, tractor protest, or snow from their balconies or hanging our their windows. So it was delightful to experience an urban New Years. As the clock chimed 12, the city and various barrios set of fireworks so we gathered at our windows. And we were enamored by the sheer amount of our neighbors throwing streamers, tp rolls, and confetti all while repeatedly yelling "Happy New Years" or blowing noise makes. It was a joyous 20 minutes. I occasionally still encounter a piece of gold confetti from that night and am taken back to a moment of allegria.