Dimming the Holiday Lights
Of all the holiday hoopla, my favorite is Christmas lights. I love how the lights illuminate familiar streets and make them appear special. The giant Christmas figures also come alive after dark arisen from a temporary death on a lawn. Resurrected ghosts of Christmas. Santa’s again upright after a night of heavy partying.
But if we left the lights on year round, Christmas season would be less special. It’s a bit like eating too much birthday cake. If we overindulge, we will come to dread the birthday celebration. I already dread an upcoming birthday, and it has little to do with eating too much cake, but that’s a story for February.
We leave our Christmas lights up till the Feast of the Three Kings. Dia de los Reyes Magos. The celebration of the three kings is a nice way to wrap up the Christmas season so we went to a local supermarket and purchased a Rosca de Reyes.
The rosca is a bit like a coffee cake with a major addition. It has several, small plastic replicas of baby Jesus. The ones who choose a piece of rosca with a tiny Jesus are required to bring in food for everyone on el Dia de la Candelaria on February 2. This keeps the party going. This is exactly 40 days after Christmas. Worldwide, Christians are celebrating the presentation of Jesus by Mary in the Temple of Jerusalem. Candles are part of the celebration since candles represent Mary’s purity.
In Mexico, tamales and atole, a corn based beverage, are part of the celebration and are pre- Hispanic dating to Aztec celebrations calling for rain and a bountiful corn harvest.
Getting back to the Rosca de Reyes, I asked a friend if it wasn’t a bit heretical to have several baby Jesus’s in the rosca. No, not all, was the response. Having several plastic replicas in the rosca lightens the requirement of those who then are obligated to bring food for February 2. Fair enough.
We packed away the Christmas decorations last Sunday, the Feast of the Three Kings. My dear wife did most of the deconstructing as she did most of the decorating. But there was an unfortunate discovery. One of her beautifully drawn posters was missing from the front porch. It’s a snowman with a bird perched on his hat. How would someone take a handmade decoration and use it as their Christmas decoration? It’s so contradictory to all that Christmas represents. We told our next door neighbor since she has movable decorations on her porch. She had the perfect response. Pray for our neighborhood.
Before we start looking at the many single day holidays in February, let’s take a look at January. Check out the activities planned at the Imperial Valley Desert Museum (www.ivdesertmuseum.org ). Also, the Friends of the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge are hosting the Salton Sea Bird Festival on Saturday, January 13 from 7am till sunset. There will be talks, bird walks, guided tours, and photography classes. It’s at the Visitor Center, 906 W. Sinclair Rd., Calipatria. It’s free. Find more information on Facebook.
January 15 is the celebration of Martin Luther King’s birthday.
The IV Social Justice Committee is hosting the event. Gather at the MLK Jr. Sports Pavilion 770 Park Ave., El Centro at 11:30am. March to the county courthouse, 939 W. Main St., El Centro for the 12 noon reenactment of the “I have a dream speech.”
It’s great weather to be out. Enjoy this time of year.