The Magic Of The Three Kings

Well, the Christmas festivities just go on and on and on, and the shops are shut again. Today is ‘Three Kings Day’ the morning of which, so tradition dictates, all good children of Spain wake up to their presents as left by the gentlemen from the east. It must be great therefore to be a kid over here having it drag on for so long, it begs the question however just who do Spanish kids think Father Christmas is? I mean he crops up on every advert, film and festive song for at least a month, - so just who do they think he is?? When I posed this question to girlfriend Nikki, (who is half Spanish) a couple of years ago, without missing a beat she says ‘Just some fat bastard from the north’. So that ends that debate then.
As it happens I was listening to a programme on Radio 4 a couple of weeks ago and according to the bible there is no mention whatsoever of ‘Three Kings’ or even wise men. The only description of these three (it doesn’t even say that they are all men) is that they are ‘Magi’ which directly translated means ‘magician’. So that’s it then, they were three conjurors on their way to a ‘gig’ when they were way laid and diverted by a star to attend a children’s party. It makes sense to me.
It would appear that the modern story of the three kings as we know today was written some centuries later, and it wasn’t until then that the story, i.e. three blokes, two white and one black rolled into town on camels (something else that was never mentioned in the bible). It is this scene that the Spanish re-enacted up and down the country last night, and I know having watched the parade here last year they make a terrific job of it. Interestingly they find it impossible to find dark skinned men of the correct religious persuasion to fulfil the roll of third king, so they have to get a white chap and black him up! – You can just imagine the horror back home at the very mention of this can’t you, but thankfully over here we don’t have some trumped up little councillor tapping us on our shoulders telling us how to live our lives. Viva Espana!