‘Jibarito’ honors Three Kings Day traditions
Puerto Rican holiday book was inspired by Elf on the Shelf
Elf on the Shelf now has a friend to welcome the holiday season. His name is Jibarito. Puerto Rican families in Hartford andworldwide are embracing the cute little guy and the book that tells his Christmas story.
“Jibarito de la Cajita” was published by Victor and Merari Febus, a Puerto Rican couple. On Dec. 15 at 6 p.m., Victor Febus will take part in a Facebook Live book talk, presented by the organizers of the annual Greater Hartford Puerto Rican Day Parade & Festival Del Coqui.
The book talk will be in Spanish, with a brief summary in English. The book is currently available for purchase in Spanish only. Juanita Crispin, a Spanish teacher in the Hartford public schools, will read the book and Febus will talk afterward.
In a phone interview from their home in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, Victor Febus said he and his wife came up with the idea of Jibarito when looking at their Christmas decorations, whichincludedElf ontheShelf.
“We were thinking of the tradition of jibaro, whichmeanscountryman. It’s part of Puerto Rican tradition. Every Puerto Rican has a jibaro inside,” Febus said. “Wethought of that, and we saw the elf, and we said OK, why don’t we do something similar to that, a jibarito?”
The coronavirus lockdown, starting in mid-March, motivated them to make their vision a reality. “Wehadalotoftime,” Febus said. They wrote the book and got it and the doll both onto the market by the end of September. The book and doll, and other jibarito items, can be bought at jibaritodelacajita.com. Those whousethe coupon code JIBARITOFAN get 10% off.
Thetitle translates to “Jibarito of the Box.” It comes from the tradition, observed by many in Hartford’s Puerto Rican community, of leaving a boxfull of grass andwaterto feed the animals that carry the Three Kings to meet the Christ child on the Feast of the Epiphany. When children wake up, the water and grass are gone, replaced by a toy.
In Hartford’s Three Kings Day Parade, whichtakes place yearly in early January, the animals are camels. In the original Puerto Rican story, they were horses. So in “Jibarito de la Cajita,” the kings ride horses.
Febus described the plot of the children’s book: “Jibarito is playing in the countryside. He sees three people. He goes to them and is surprised that they are the Three Kings. Here in Puerto Rico we celebrate Three Kings Day, sort of a second Christmas. He goes back and brings them some coffee and grass for the horses. They are lost in Puerto Rico and can’t find the homes of kids. They ask him for help. They see that he is compassionate, courageous and kind. He is what we call buena gente. They see those values in him. Hehelps them find the homes of kids.”
Crispin, who also has a Facebook page I Am Hartford, got a copy of “Jibarito de la Cajita” from a friend. She loved it so much she organized the book talk. She said she doesn’t see Jibarito as a Puerto Rican Elf on the Shelf, but as a character with a different purpose.
“To me, Elf on the Shelf is kind of like giving news to Santa about howthe kids are doing. Jibarito is telling the story of Three Kings Day, delivering that message,” Crispin said. “Alot of the vocabulary in the book are words I grew up with. Not manypeople use them now. It brought me back to my childhood.”
Febus said an English translation will be available soon in ebookform. “Somesecondand third-generation Puerto Ricans don’t speak Spanish,” he said.