Today is feast of the Three Kings. This is a feast engraved on the hearts of all children of the Spanish Empire. The Philippines is a child of Spain as much as the countries of Latin America, although I am forever baffled by Americans who don’t seem to know our Spanish history any more than our American history. Our Catholicism came through Spain with all its customs and traditions to which we added our own. When I was a child, this marked the end of the Christmas season.
We forgot about Three Kings last year. Rosie remembered though. How can one forget Three Kings? We patched together the best Christmas we could with me running on a low battery with all my after effects and side effects of the hospital adventure (my hair was falling out), as well as Bud’s imminent trip to Asia. So Rosie’s shoes went unfilled and I made a special mental note to keep Three Kings going until she was too old to care. When that day comes, I will want my shoes filled. Gold and chocolate would suit me fine.
This year, it’s another story altogether. It’s raining hard outside, warm rain. We just came back from the health food store which was so full of people, it was like a party. We ran up the front stairs in time to admire the 6 pairs of shoes that were lined up in the front hallway and spilling over with goodies. Custom-matched goodies picked particularly for the personality of each child. My lovely tall daughters went out for me last night on the Three Kings’ run. I came down this morning to see that the older children had dutifully filled the shoes of all. Aren’t they wonderful?
The kids came down the stairs with various rhythms. The little ones were delighted, the older ones still young enough to love shoes full of candy.
When I was a very small child, happily undergoing the transition from an American child into a Filipino child, I was happily astonished to find out about the Three Kings. I put my shoes out and the next morning they were overflowing with all sorts of candies, particularly the gold coin foil chocolates. I thought these special candies must have come all the way from the Holy Land. The Three Kings were more believable than Santa, because after all, they were Kings, and Holy Kings at that, and therefore were imbued with magical properties of bilocation and timeless travel. Santa, the reindeer and the chimney were hard to believe in a tropical climate. Three Kings on camels with a retinue of servants were more easy to absorb.
I was such a Three Kings evangelizer that I persuaded my little classmate Donna, who was Jewish, (this was at Wurtsmith Elementary School at Clark Air Base), to leave her shoes out and see what happened. Obviously she told her parents about it, because on the first Monday of school she exhuberantly told me that “The Kings came to see me too!!”
Once, when Mercy was small, perhaps 7 years old she came down the stairs and asked us to come clean with what was true and what was not. “What’s true? Is the Tooth Fairy true? Is Santa true? Is Jesus in the communion true? Are miracles true? I want to know the truth.”
So we came clean and she was happy to have it sorted out. Curtains for Santa and the Tooth Fairy, and kudos for real miracles and mysteries of the Faith. A bit later I heard a little chubby angel wailing about Santa, but then it all settled down and all were happy.
We all need to have access to the miraculous. I have a friend who prays a novena to St. Nicholas every Christmas. She has never been let down by the real St. Nick. In the Philippines, Simbang Gabi, the Filipino novena of nine dawn masses is a portal to miracles. My dear Aunty Millie swore by it and never missed a morning.
I like to think of the Three Kings, Caspar, Balthazar and Melchior, making their way towards the Star that marked Bethlehem in their sight. On the way there, they stopped to visit King Herod, who milked them for information in order to find and kill baby Jesus. The magi found their way to Bethlehem, prostrated themselves in front of the Baby and Our Lady, offered their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They were warned in a dream to stay away from Herod and following the dream, left for their countries via another route.
A beautiful star, magandang bituin, a baby, a mother, three kings. Gifts and dreams. Danger and salvation. A fitting end to yet another season of delight.
Santa and the Tooth fairy….
…curtains?
😦
Thank you Kathleen, tears on my pillow for The Three Kings