Children and their equally excited adults lined the snow-covered streets in Hartford’s Frog Hollow neighborhood on Jan. 6.
It was Día de los Reyes, the culmination of Christmastime in places like Puerto Rico. There, the most important gift givers of the holiday season are not Santa Claus and his reindeer, but the biblical Three Wise Men who came to gift baby Jesus gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Ahead of the parade start, Libertad Batista was on Park Street with her three-year-old grandson, Liam Santiago. As she snapped pictures of the toddler, bundled in a bright orange puffer jacket, the Ponce native shared how she felt finding gifts left by the kings at his age.
“So, in the morning, we go and get it,” Batista said. “I was so excited. Believe me!”
This was Liam’s first Three Kings Day celebration, but the beaming boy was loving it so far.
Batista is thankful to have relocated to a place that still honors the holiday.
“People celebrate too much Santa Claus, but in the Bible, it's the Three Kings,” Batista said. “I want to keep that tradition.”
‘La verdadera Navidad’
Another grandma in the crowd echoed the importance of the tradition. Ada Acosta is a Santurce native, who moved to Connecticut in 1978.
“We always wait for this day, the Three Kings Day, because this is the real Christmas — la verdadera Navidad,” Acosta said.
She stood beside her husband, Edwin, in Pope Park, where the parade route ended. As they waited for family members to catch up, Edwin waved a Puerto Rican flag and chanted, “Libertad.” Their young grandson, Javier, ran up then.
“I put the grass, the grass and water,” he explained, shyly, the tradition of putting hay and water out for the camels before bed — like milk and cookies for Santa.
His grandma interjected, proudly, “Yeah, he did!”
Javier had three gifts magically waiting for him in the morning, though he could only recall the controllers for his Nintendo Switch.
At the end of the route, the parade transformed into a toy distribution and camel rides for the kids.
A yearly tradition
The group that puts on Hartford’s annual Puerto Rican Parade is who hosted this parade — another event near and dear to the diaspora.
This year’s sponsors of CICD’s El Día De Los Tres Reyes Magos included the Spanish American Merchants Association and the Catholic Charities Archdiocese of Hartford, for which the holiday, called “Epiphany,” is a feast day within the church.
Now, it’s just 364 sleeps until Kings Melchior, Gaspar and Balthazar return again.
