Saturday 3 January 2009

Christmas on Tenerife - Tres Reyes

Whilst in most places the Christmas trees have dropped most of their pine needles, the final party popper of the festive season has been popped and the empty champagne bottles have been discreetly dumped in the recycling bins, here on Tenerife the festive fun is still set to continue for another few days.

On Tenerife, Christmas and New Year is the time for the adults to have some fun, but now it’s the kids’ turn. The 5th January sees the arrival of the Tres Reyes Magos bearing their gifts. On the 6th January children all over the island wake to find if they’ve been good enough to warrant presents.
It might seem strange to those of us who are used to handing over gifts on the 25th December, but if you think about it, it makes more sense to hand over gifts on the same day as the three wise men bestowed their gifts on the baby Jesus.

If you’re not on Tenerife, then you’re probably dealing with those back to work blues. If you are on Tenerife and are close to a Canarian town, you can bet that Balthasar, Caspar and Melchior will be parading through the streets on the back of gaily decorated floats, or even camels.

Venue: Most towns on Tenerife
Time: Between 18.00 to 20.00 hours

2 comments:

Pamela Stocks said...

I've just translated a list of times and brief descriptions of the major Three Kings Parades, if they're of interest.

Real Tenerife said...

Thanks Pamela, that's a really useful list:)