Three Kings Day in New York City 2025 Celebrations
New York City’s big Three Kings Day celebrations include:
- 47th El Museo del Barrio Three Kings Day Parade Kick-Off Breakfast is hosted by Puerto Rican television personality Rhina Valentin at El Museo del Barrio in East Harlem, Manhattan, on Monday, January 6, 2025, from 8:30-10:30am (8am doors). Free with RSVP. First-come, first-served. 🇵🇷
- 47th El Museo del Barrio Three Kings Day Parade features giant puppets, camels, Puerto Rican BombaYo dance company, Nicaraguan jazz drummer Annette Aguilar & Stringbeans, and Brazilian women’s drum line Fogo Azul, all celebrating the theme “The Arts Open Paths” (El Arte Abriendo Caminos) in East Harlem, Manhattan, from 106th and Lexington to 115th St and Park Avenue; from 11am – 12pm. Parade Check-in is on 106th St between Fifth and Madison Ave. The Parade starts at 106th St and Park Avenue, turns north on Third Ave, turns west on 116th St, turns south on Park Avenue, and ends at 115th St. FREE. 🇧🇷 🇳🇮 🇵🇷
- 47th El Museo del Barrio Three Kings Day Celebration after the parade features Emmy-nominated Puerto Rican cuatrista and composer Fabiola Méndez at El Museo Del Barrio in East Harlem, Manhattan, from 1:30-3pm. Free with RSVP. First-come, first-served. 🇵🇷
- Teatro SEA Three Kings Day Festival is a block party featuring the Three Kings in person giving free gifts to children, giant puppets, and live music. It’s outside the Clemente Center on Suffolk Street in “Loisaida,” Manhattan’s Lower East Side, from 3-5pm. FREE. 🇵🇷
These celebrations are produced by New York’s Puerto Rican community, but everyone is welcome, and everyone participates. ¡WEPA!
Three Kings Day
Three Kings Day, or Epiphany, ends the Christmas season on January 6. In Spanish, the celebration has many names including: Tres Reyes, Día de Reyes, Día de los Reyes Magos (Day of the Magi Kings). In Portuguese, it is Dia dos Reis. In English, it is King’s Day, but not to be confused with English King’s Day which is about the King of England.
Three Kings Day celebrates the biblical story of Three Wise Men of the orient visiting the Baby Jesus. According to the story, the Magi: Balthasar, Melchior, and Gaspar saw a rising star which they believed marked the birth of a messiah, the savior of the Jewish nation. They followed it on camels to Jerusalem where they asked the Roman Jewish King Herod of Judea about the messiah. They continued until the star stopped moving over Bethlehem where they met Mary and Joseph with the Baby Jesus. The Three Kings offered gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Nativity scenes commemorate this moment.
Having dreamt that King Herod threatened the child, the Three Kings traveled home by a different way. They were right. Fearing a competitor, King Herod launched the Massacre of the Innocents, the killing of all male children under two years old in Bethlehem. The Feast of the Holy Innocents, or Childermas, commemorates that event on December 28. The town of Hatillo, Puerto Rico has a famous Masacre de los Inocentes festival.
Interestingly, the word “magi” is derived from the Latin “magus,” which is derived from the Greek “magos,” which is derived from the Old Persian “magus,” which is derived from the Zoroastrian religious language Avestan. Zoroastrianism is one of the deepest roots of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The Persian prophet Zoroaster (Greek) or Zarathustra (Avestan) was the first to define the idea of a good heaven and a bad hell, concepts that are central to the Abrahamic religions.
Every culture has its own traditions. In Hispanic culture, Three Kings Day is the Christmas gift-giving day. In the America’s, it’s also the start of Carnival Season. Most countries start serious Carnival preparations on Three Kings Day, but New Orleans Carnival actually begins on Three Kings Day.
In Puerto Rico, it’s our favorite day of the year, because the parks of full of families watching their children play with the toys the Three Kings left for them.
Three Kings Day in Puerto Rico
We love the Three Kings. In Hispanic culture, Three Kings Day is the gift-giving day. It’s the last day of Christmas, except in Puerto Rico where Las Octavitas keeps the party going. Puerto Ricans have the world’s longest Christmas celebration from the Feast of Our Lady of Providence, patron saint of Puerto Rico, on November 19; to Las Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián in mid-January.
On the eve of January 6 in Puerto Rico, children put grass under their bed for the Three Kings’ camels. When the rooster crows in the morning, children get up early to see what the Three Kings gave them.
Today, most Puerto Rican families celebrate both days, giving a big gift on one day and small gifts on the other. American Christmas traditions have mostly taken over, but most Puerto Ricans never heard of Santa Claus and American Christmas traditions until the American occupation began in 1898. Shortly thereafter, the Americans forced Puerto Rican teachers to teach in English. They gave us some books we couldn’t read, but we could look at the pictures and wondered what was all the fuss about the guy with the white beard in the red suit.
We love the Three Kings because they represent all the parts of us: Indigenous, European, and African. The only thing missing is Asia, but they were three kings of the orient which is Asia. So no matter your heritage, the Three Kings represent all of us.
Furthermore, the wise men took a journey outside of themselves, outside their realms, to pay respect to another culture besides their own. That is the ultimate state of grace. ¡Feliz día de los Reyes!