Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Three Kings Day in the City

 
Tram speeding by; C in bobble hat; C hands out change to our first trio of kings; kings stand, robed and ready, at metro stairs; a smaller set of kings; crutches cast a shadow; trees crooked against the sky.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is Three Kings Day? And what happens to the money that the various sets of kings receive? Is this just an approved way to panhandle?

BTW, I know who the Three Kings are (or at least I assume it's the Three Wise Men of the Christmas story). I'm trying to understand what the day is about and why they get money.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like Epiphany, though I too wonder about the money.

Julia said...

It's an unofficial Catholic holiday here celebrating the first day of Epiphany on January 6. Before the holiday, Caritas sends out trios of kings around the country to sing carols, bless houses for the year and collect money for charity.

More pictures here where you can see kings on horseback and kings chalking up their initials on houses they have blessed.

Roderick Robinson said...

Just think, you've been enacting a Schubert lied.

Starts something like Es gibt die drei Königen... but you know all that stuff.

countrypeapie said...

I like C's bobble hat.

Julia said...

BB - I don't know that piece, though I do love Schubert songs. I have to admit that after studying music history for four years in university, my most important take away was how much there still was to discover. I learned that one day when one of our great-uncles sat in on a lecture and knew more about opera than anyone else in the class. And as he says, he's an admirer, not a musician. (Ellen, do you remember that?)

Meg - The bobble hat is so Czech and so Caroline at the same time, it has become my favorite.

deedee said...

We don't have the Kings roaming the streets here in France, just special king's cakes in the bakeries.

Julia said...

Kings Cakes are great, do yours have a coin or a plastic baby baked into them? We don't have them here but growing up in the South, our New Orleans cousins certainly did.