Baldo by Hector D. Cantú and Carlos Castellanos for January 07, 2016

Although, wouldn’t Three Kings have been yesterday?

Yup a day late.

Well most parents are bled dry financially by that time.

We always save one present each to give on January 6. Also, you can usually find the same items “on sale” after New Years Day, which is what I did on Tuesday afternoon.

who [besides tradition] says there were three magi?

When I was a kid we called it Little Christmas.

Doctor ToonOf course it would make more sense theologically, but with Mammonism the state religion, merchants want instant gratification.

My mom, born 1906, said they opened small gifts (sort of like stocking stuffers) from Christmas Eve to January 5, then opened the “real” presents on Epiphany. Our tree went up on Christmas Eve (even when we grew our own) and stayed up until January 6. But we opened one small present Christmas Eve and the rest on Christmas day. Traditions change. Now we start celebrating Christmas in September, right after the back-to-school sales.

The Bible describes them only as “wise men from the East” (Matthew 2:1).

It’s practiced in Puerto Rico, but with the American influence Santa Claus has taken center stage. The parents that give a gift to the children in “El dia de los Reyes Magos” give a token gift. The children are left with the impression that Santa Claus is loaded and the other guys barely make ends meet.

I get presents every Three Kings’ Day as it’s my birthday.

The Magi practiced magic. Probably Zoroastrians, good decent people, almost wiped out in their Persian homeland. Christopher Moore wrote a fantastic and worthy piece of fiction, “Lamb,” based on Christ’s relationships with the Magi.

Um, at least in Europe, the Three Kings come on the 6th…I saw an early visit on the 5th, as they were travelling by high-speed rail, though their donkeys were waiting at the village they stopped at.