Dia de los Reyes

I realize I haven't really given any background about our family situation yet, but the basic gist of things is that I am Mother to a bi-cultural child and trying to raise him in a primarily anglo society while keeping alive his Mexican heritage.

As he is not even three years old yet, the journey has barely begun.

Today was a special day for us, Dia de los Reyes or Three Kings Day. According to Catholic tradition, this is the day we commemorate the arrival of the 3 Kings who brought gifts to the newborn Jesus. In Mexico, this is traditionally the day that children receive presents.
We are trying to preserve that tradition here to some extent.

Matito has been whispering his longings for a lego train and water tower (water 'shower', according to him) to the figurines of the Three Kings we have had hiding in the cupboard for the last week. At 7:30 this morning, he ran into the dining room to look for the gift he knew the 'big Reyes Magos' had left him in the night.

After daycare, we went to the local Latin bakery and got some sweet bread that he likes and then went to a community event in honour of the day at a Catholic Elementary school in a neighboring city. It was like those summer carnivals daycares sometimes put on, with different stations and activities for the children to take part in. Matito's Spanish-speaking cousins were there, so he was pleased. I was happy to be able to hang out with their mother!

After some time and some food (quesadillas, tamales, chips and salsa) the Three Kings showed up (just like Santa does at Christmas parties). First they did a vignette and then they had a "question and answer period" where the children could ask questions to the Kings. It was fun for the kids. The best part in Matito's opinion, was that he got a regalo (gift) at the end!
He fell asleep in the car on the way home, clutching the toy truck the Kings had given him ("a special one, just for me, Mommie")

I feel really good about the day, it was something so uniquely Mexican that was being celebrated in such a uniquely Mexican way.

I feel this is very important for the little guy, but it is usually just us who are making it happen or it is being done in a very watered down way to accommodate for the various Latino populations (ie from different Latin American countries) in our area. We knew this would be the case when we came here from Mexico, but I guess I didn't consider how important this would become to me. I don't want my son growing up without the wonderful and rich traditions of his birthplace and his anscestors.

He may be Canadian, but he was Mexican first. He might live in Canada, but Mexico is his home too.