For those of you that don't know, today is what my darling wife calls "Three Kings Day". Apparently according to Paty, this is the day that the kings returned home from visiting baby Jesus. In Mexico, Paty used to get more presents on this day, signaling and end to the Christmas season it seems.
Interestingly enough while western Christians celebrate today for just that, eastern Christians seem to have determined that January 6th is the day Christ was baptized in the Jordan. (on a side note, are there a lot of Eastern Christians left? Maybe Greeks and such I guess)
I did some research on this (wikipedia) and found that the day is actually more commonly called the Epiphany. And quite a few cultures have some sort of tradition that goes along with the day. For instance, the Irish call today Women's Christmas or 'Little Christmas' (I will withhold the plethora of jokes that I have queued up about little = women and Ireland as most of my readers are in fact women).
In Greece they bless the waters and ban sailing on this day. In Rome they make some sort of hard baked pastries that people choke down. More food in Portugal. And so on.
The last interesting fact I found is that this is the day the signals the start of Mardi Gras in New Orleans!
Happy Three Kings Day!
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