Yesterday we met a few friends in downtown Pozuelo (our town) to see the local Three Kings parade. Unbeknownst to us, the Three Kings are a really big deal here. In the US, the kings play small side part in nativity, but then are mostly forgotten. Their biggest claim to fame is that when the children perform the nativity play at church, even though both the shepherds and the kings weard the same robes, the kings get to wear paper crowns and the shepherds only get head wrap things. That's about it.

In Spain, the children get just as many (or more) presents on Three Kings Eve as they do on Christmas.

So anyway, back to the parade. We stood out on the side of the road. It was supposed to start at 6:00pm, but didn't get going until 6:30pm (this is basically Spanish "on time"). There were little floats put on by groups and businesses at the beginning, followed by the Three Kings at the end (sort of like when Santa is at the back of the Thanksgiving Day parade). There were some really interesting costumes, a few people who looked like they belonged in the circus (fire breathers, and fire jugglers, unicycles, people on stilts). The entire affair had the feeling of a mixture of small town Fourth of July parade, Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, and the circus coming to town. Very interesting.

We had to wait on the road about an hour in advance to get a place where the kids could see. We were told the city of Madrid puts on a very large parade and you need to line up four hours in advance to get a spot. I don't doubt it.

The reason that getting a spot for your kids is so important is the floats throw out candy. Little hard suck candies that hurt when they hit you in the face. Ask me how I know. As usual, the kids scramble around picking up pieces of candy. Apparently smart adults simply bring umbrellas and turn them upside down during the parade to catch candy. Clever.

Wikipedia entry about the Three Kings celebration on January 6.

Afterwards, the three families (9 kids total) stopped at a Central American restaurant for some quick food. It was still 50 degrees outside after dinner so the kids enjoyed running around playing with each other while we parents talked. We had to take off abruptly when Truman had a bathroom accident, but it turned out to be a blessing because it meant that we could get home and get the kids to bed (approximately) on time.

I head back to work tomorrow. I'm definitely not looking forward to it. We had several large messes pop up right before Christmas holidays and they have been sitting there festering for two weeks so I'm not excited to dive back into those. The kids start one day later on Thursday. I think they're a little more excited to go back than I am. Except Truman, he's definitely not. :(

The last 'float' was the clean up crew. Leaf blowers and vaccuum machines: