Title: Three Kings

General Information about Item:

• Customary and Material Lores
• Language: Spanish
• Country of Origin: Canary Islands
• Informant: Carlota Hopkins Guerra
• Date Collected: 1-6-2002

Informant Data:

• The informants name is Carlota. Carlota is an 18 year old college student from the Canary Islands in Spain. She is currently a freshman at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Her family celebrates Christmas via dinner, but exchange gifts on the day of the “Three Kings.”

Contextual Data:

• Carlota’s family celebrates Christmas because of their Christian faith. On the 24th the family goes to her aunts’ house and have dinner then exchange “invisible friend gifts,” which is the US equivalent of a secret Santa gift exchange. On the 25th, her immediate family and others return to her aunt’s house and cook lunch. Their celebration of the Three Kings is more in line with the traditional celebration of Christmas. On this night, Carlota leaves out milk for the camels and food for the Three Kings so that she gets presents in return. In the morning her family opens presents from the ThreeKings.

Item:

• The celebration of the Kings involves a customary lore and material lore. The customary lore is the belief or celebration of the three kings and camels. Her family gathers all together the next day, eat brunch, then attend a parade and then return back to her house for cake. During the parade they wear casual clothes and everyone throws confetti. The material aspect of this lore are the presents exchanged, cake and confetti.

Transcript:

• “The Three Kings happens on January 6th and it is like our ‘Santa.'”

Informant’s Comments:

• “I love my family and I don’t get to see my cousins that much so this is a nice time.”

Collector’s Comments:

• Very cool, foreign take on Christmas. Shows how folklore transcends boundaries and cultures.

Collector’s Name: Emma White

Tags/Keywords:

• Three kings, santa, Christmas, January 6th