Felizes Tres Reyes

...Or Happy Three Kings to you. Today is (another) national holiday here in Spain for Three Kings, which many people, particularly Catholics, take much more seriously than Christmas itself. This is when children recieve their presents, instead of christmas day, delivered by the three wise men that bothered Jesus when he was born (or, 12 days after as it is here - the Bible doesn't actually mention them being there on the night), one from the Orient, one from Europe and one from Africa, who magically fly around the world by camel... sound familiar? All this must be a bit confusing for kids. Are they competing with Santa or what?

Umbrellas out in Plaza de Ciebeles

Anyway, there's a huge parade through every town in Spain on Reyes Eve as I'm gonna call it, and the one in Madrid is pretty huge and broadcast live on TV so we went down and joined the crowds in Plaza de Ciebeles to check it out. It started off with some light drizzle and an odd musical interlude telling the story of the Kings featuring a man playing an upended piano suspended above the stage with projections on it, before the parade started coming down the Paseo Castellano. Its very much a kids event, with loads of toddlers hoisted on there parents shoulders and even up step ladders waiting to catch the sweets thrown from the floats, but it was pretty full of adults too who were clearly loving it (and also trying to catch sweets).

 

Balthazar, all the way from Africa, apparently

It's quite a surreal procession really, giant birds, the smurfs, the Royal Guards on horseback, a pirate ship, mildly terrifying giant fish, flag waving cheerleaders, a gigantic samaurai who looked like he was muttering silently to himself and much more, followed at the end by the Three Kings themselves. Now, one of the Kings, Balthazar, from Africa, is usually black. However, this is Spain, not a country known for its political correctness (see also the national basketball team narrowing their eyes for a photo at the Beijing olympics). Did they have a black person filling this role? Of course not, they had someone blacked up. Oh dear.

Fireworks, as seen from Gran Via

This aside, the event was great fun. It's nice to have a big communal celebration like that at this time of year, and this one brings out the wide eyed kid in everyone. You've got to be pretty sharp to catch any sweets though, or up-end an umbrella as many people did. Some pretty impressive fireworks afterwards too.

Seeing as today was a national holiday, it was high time for a drink afterward, and we headed over to Malasana for a couple at a little cafe whos name I always forget that plays bossa nova non stop. Then to circus themed Malabar on Plaza Dos de Mayo with its very friendly staff before venturing into Chueca to a bar that serves huge plates of tapas (see below) with a decent sized beer for 4 Euros a pop while huge animal heads stare at you from the wall, and then on to a Olivers, an ordinary looking bar with an unexpected cellar club with neon lights stretching from end to end (also see below) and a very hit and miss music policy. All that, and I didn't see one person breaking the smoking ban. In fact, people looked quite happy standing outside.

Needless to say, I'm quite hungover. But hey, what are public holidays for eh?