Epiphany to us and Christmas to the Spanish

The wise men of Maro
It's 25°C on January 6th, 2013, and I'm sitting here in Maro southern Spain unable to believe my luck. The sky is the most amazing blue and we've just gotten back from a walk to the beach where I sat in my bra in the sunshine. There were some rudey nudeys on the beach, both male and female, but I opted to keep my big sports bra on, thank you very much.

Sea views from the van through an old house

It's been an exciting day here in Spain, as today is Epiphany and is the Spanish version of Christmas. That is to say, you get your presents today and not on the 24/25th of December. The music started on the village loud speakers at about 10am and stopped just after 1pm. At midday, a horse-drawn carriage brought the Wise Men to hand out the presents to the children in front of the church. Each child was called and the excitement was very catchy. They threw sweets into the streets for the kids to collect and I successfully restrained myself from joining in the collecting fun.

The wise men of Maro

There were 5 Wise Men which I found confusing as I thought there were only 3. Can anyone explain this to me? The costumes were elaborate and after the gift giving, they had their photograph taken with babies and other members of the public. It's a super tradition and the kids were besides themselves with joy. I assume the parents bring the gifts and the Wise Men just hand them out, as otherwise I recommend we all to Spain to get the super gifts!

The wise men of Maro driving off

We had no idea this tradition existed until last year when we innocently drove through Madrid on 6.1.12. It was a Saturday afternoon and we were in bumper to bumper traffic for what felt like hours. We pulled up at the huge Jesus statue on the outskirts of Madrid and just couldn't get over the activity everywhere. Well, now we know. It's their biggest holiday and we're much the wiser now.

A Maro sunset

Oh yes, another question that needs answering please: the church bells tolled madly at 6pm, 6.15pm and 6.30pm. Was this to call people to church? I was in the midst of frying calamari rings which I had cleaned at a beautiful tiled sink in the village square (loads of people stopped by to smile and comment), so I didn't go and find out. And by the time we'd finished cooking, eating and clearing a way, there wasn't a soul in the church. So do drop me a line and let me know if you know.

And seeing as this is essentially a foodie blog, do you know what traditionally gets eaten at Epiphany? Okay, I'll tell ya. Galette des Rois gets eaten at Epiphany. Voila. But I'll tell you all about that another time. Have to run and do more exciting stuff here in Spain. Adios!

Share this

Enjoyed your post a bit,


Enjoyed your post a bit, although in your speech I found some controversial elements. I could not get whether you appreciate the days in Spain.

  • The pokies online this is the most effective that at this time there is for black-jack also, the wager site sounds help you feel such as you are gaming inside of a real internet gambling.

Definitely enjoyed it!


Thanks for the comment and sorry about the vagueness. We definitely enjoyed it 100% and can recommend a visit there in a heartbeat. Are you Spanish? Any tips on where else to visit in Spain?

Kirchenglocken


Hi Crystal, na du hast aber hübsche Könige gefunden! Und die werfen auch noch Süßigkeiten. Bei uns ist das anders...Jasmin und Adrian waren wieder unterwegs. Was gleich ist wie bei uns, ist das "Morgenläuten" und das "Abendläuten". Das gibt es bei uns jeden Tag. Morgens um 6.00 Uhr und abends um 19.00 Uhr. So lebt man auf dem Land. Die Tradition vermutlich, als es noch keine Uhren gab. Morgens aufstehen und für die Kinder abends heimgehen.
Viel Spaß noch im Urlaub. Und du hattest nur einen BH an??? Und Jörg?

Love Anja

NOT jealous


Nice story! Thanks for sharing your joy and enjoyment, Crystal. I'm not jealous, not AT ALL. Up here in the Gers we're comfortably sitting on the wood stove, watching the wet snow blizzard through the window. Just got in from cleaning the boggy paddock from horse-droppings, where I got stuck with the loaded barrow. Now I'm having a nice hot cup of coffee, without any biscuits or sweets in an attempt to lose the 3 kilos I gained during the holidays. The price of excess foie gras, salmon and chocolate! Unable to believe my luck. Have fun, dears ;-)

Post new comment
The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <img> <div>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • You may use [inline:xx] tags to display uploaded files or images inline.

More information about formatting options