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Els Reis de l'Orient

In Poland the children get presents on Decembre 6 which brings, depending on the region, Santa Claus or the Star. In Catalunya the children have to wait one month more. On January 6, the Catalan children get up early to look for the gifts that the Kings of the East have left them during the night.



The tradition of the Reis de l’Orient begins many days before January 6. Children write letters addressed to Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar asking for what they want.  Before going to sleep, the children leave prepared water for the camels, as well as turrones (the traditional catalan sweets made from almondes and sugar) for the Kings. In the morning, they receive the gifts, or charcoal if they have behaved badly. For the dessert in every Catalan home is served the traditional tortell de Reis– a sponge cake with cream and crystallized fruits.



Comments

  1. #TeamBaltasar20 January 2019 at 20:13

    Hi Urszula! It's really cool what you've done here :)

    Even though every country has different traditions, celebrate them on different dates and with different characters, the main objective is to foster children's dream.
    Btw, did you know that inside the tortell de reis, there are two figures: a bean and a king?
    When the cake is cut, the person who finds the bean on her slice must pay the tortell, and the one who finds the king, is crowned with the paper crown and is encouraged to say some words.

    Keep on writing!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Urszula Salamon24 March 2019 at 15:44

      #TeamBaltasar thank you for your comment! It's really nice to read that you like my blog :) Yes! This year I visited my family in Catalunya on January 6 and I found the king! I still have the paper crown in my room. I think that it's very cool tradition ;)

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