Three Kings Day in Spain
Three Kings Day, or Día de los Reyes in Spanish, falls on January the 6 th every year. It's the day that most children in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries receive their Christmas presents. In the days leading up to January the 5 th , children write letters to the Three Kings, Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthasar. In these letters, the children tell the kings how well they have behaved during the year and ask for the gifts they would like to receive on January 6th. In theory, the better the children behaved, the better their gifts will be. But all children know that if they misbehaved, they run the risk of receiving a piece of coal instead. Although, in truth, it is a "sweet" punishment because the coal is made of sugar. The day before Three Kings Day is a day for parades and processions throughout Spain. The young and young-at-heart alike line the streets of Madrid, Barcelona (where the kings arrive by boat), Alcoy (which hosts Spain's longest