I know that in Holland the big parties are over, but here there is one more event left: the Three Kings.
(By the way, for those who are interested: yes, I had a great X-mas with a lot of presents and I really enjoyed celebrating the new year in Holland. In fact, I liked it soo much that I didn’t take the time to write about it.)
Back to the kings. Yesterday they arrived in Lleida (and at the very same time in a lot of other cities…) and of course we decided to have a look at them. The streets is the center were really crowded; all the children were anxious to see the guys who were going to give them lots of sweets and presents. Somehow I had to think about Paul Derks, but I don’t know why.
I expected to see three old guys on camels, but the reality was a little bit different. First the was the police creating room for the caravan to pass. Than came some clowns throwing confetti and cheering up all the people. Quite strange, because I cannot remember the presence of clowns in the original Bible story.
After that came the giants and the big-heads. These are traditional figures showing up on all the traditional events. They were accompanied by some traditional music.
After that, the whole festivity became to look a little bit like carnival: a lot of decorated wagons and walking groups passed, all throwing confetti or candy. I remember seeing the shepherds, the camels, the factory which processes all the requests of the children and a wonderful star. Finally the three kings arrived. Each king was preceeded by a wagon with children, and of course gad a beautiful wagon himself. The end of the parade was formed by some big trucks, carrying all the presents for the children. The whole events was good for more than 30 minutes viewing pleasure.
Today, we ate a special “three kings cake” as a desert. Inside the cake were a bean and a small figure of a king, and on top of the cake was a crown. The person who finds the bean has to pay the cake next year, and the person who finds the figure has to wear the crown. Luckily I found neither of them…
