Happy Three Kings Day!

Hello, friends.  I just got home, well, not "just" but close to it.  We went to my mother-out-law's in Yauco for Three Kings Day.  To the few of you who celebrate it, Happy Three Kings Day!

Tradition says that the wise men come in horses or on camels, depending on what part of the island you're from.  They come with gifts, and if you got a box and filled it with grass and placed it under your bed, or beside it, the horses will eat the grass and the Wise Men will leave a gift for you, in the box.

This is what we celebrated before the USA invaded Puerto Rico (remember, we were war booty, I believe it's called).  Afterward, and ever since, Christmas and Santa Clause have slowly become just as important.  Three Kings Day is celebrated on the Twelfth Day of Christmas, when the Wise Men came to the Messiah's home and worshiped Him, bringing gifts worthy of a King.

On Three Kings Day, if someone brings you a "parranda" (like a Christmas Carol, only unexpected and with a lot of instruments and happy Puerto Rican music, such as aguinaldos), then 8 days later you must go and give them a parranda.  That is why we call them Las Octavas (from the number 8, ocavo).  And that, my friends, is why I do not take any decorations down until 8 days after Three Kings Day.

I 've been hearing parrandas and lots of music, so 8 days from now it's going to be very nice.  I wonder if we will receive a Octava...:)  I'm not ready for one if they come, no soda pop nor food for them. :)

So, I am tired, but happy.  I have some photos I took of Yauco, a town settled mostly by people from Corsica, or somewhere around that area.  Many MANY people have last names like Giovannetti, Antonini, Luchetti, etc.  unlike the usual Lopez, Rodriguez, Robles, etc.

And, I am happy to report that Yauco still has horse rings in their sidewalks.  I took a picture, but do not know how well it came out with the cell phone camera.

So endeth my day, sort of.  I'm going to help Honorable Son #1 to pack because he leaves tomorrow to the States. He's going to college and I'll stop right now because I can feel I'm about to cry over this... I've been teaching him his whole life to be independent and survive and have been turning him over to the Lord in my prayers, and now the day has come that I actually must do it.

Thanks for reading this.

River