Thursday 5th January–Three Kings Parade Cartagena (Spain)

This evening we took a coach excursion from the campsite to Cartagena to watch the Three Kings Parade.  In Spain it is the Three Kings who bring the children their Christmas presents and they do this on January 6, the day of the Epiphany.  The kings arrive every year to villages, towns and cities throughout Spain to make the annual parade (cabalgata), which usually starts at dusk on the 5th January.  They arrive with their entourage, parading on foot or riding on elaborate floats, who toss handfuls of sweets to the children waiting in the street.  By the time the parade has passed, the children have filled bags with sweets  and the streets are littered with the uncaught offerings (that you scrunch under foot as you walk.  That night, January 5th, children are supposed to leave their shoes out to receive their gifts.  However, shoes being somewhat small to receive the gifts children receive these days, some families are turning to the Christmas tree as the place to pile gifts.

When we arrived, the streets of Cartagena were lined with chairs in readiness for the parade and any cafes with outside tables were all showing reserved notices.  The Three Kings Parade is a really big event for the Spanish and the streets were packed with families, all dressed in their Sunday best.  The Three Kings celebration had started in the morning with the arrival of the Three Kings by boat into Cartagena harbour.  Apparently, there were thousands there to greet them and they walked amongst the crowd talking to all of the children.  There will be some very tired children at the end of today.
By the time the parade started, the crowds were three and four deep on the pavements all through the town.  The floats were wonderful and lots of them had children in fancy dress throwing sweets out into the streets by the handful, as well as up to the children on the balconies above.  There was lots of loud music with quite a few marching bands, drumming groups and dancers and a really happy, family atmosphere.

            

                                                                                Some of the floats

                                                              

 

 

             

                                                       Cartagena’s Christmas decorations

 

         

               A young Woody on the Buzz Lightyear float           The way these stilt walkers danced was amazing

                     

                         A sea of people and balloons

At last, on the final three floats, the Three Kings arrive amid much shouting, cheering and clapping from the crowds.  As well as throwing sweets, the Thee kings also throw out small cuddly toys.  This caused great excitement followed by joy for the few children who managed to catch a toy and a good deal of grizzling from their siblings who weren’t so lucky.

 

             The arrival of the Three Kings

         

                 The Crazy, Evil Eyed King                                   The ‘Who are all those plebs down there?’ King 

 

                                                         

                                                       The ‘Oops, I’ve had too much to drink and am falling over ’ King                 


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