Three Kings Day

Once or twice in my childhood, my mother baked a cake on January 6 with a hard bean hidden inside. The recipient of the slice with the bean had to bake the next cake. It was her play on the tradition that whoever got the bean was king or queen for the day.

Even before Christmas became a holiday, third-century Christians celebrated the arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem to see the baby Jesus. The legend evolved far beyond the short biblical account in Matthew 2:1-12. Consider:

• “We three kings.” Magi were priestly astrologers, not monarchs. Their three types of gifts are the only basis for putting their number at three.
• “Of Orient are.” Matthew says they came from the east. By the 700s they had names, and later, diverse homelands: Balthasar from Arabia or Ethiopia, Melchior from Persia,  and Gaspar from India.
• “Bearing gifts.” In some modern cultures, children receive gifts on January 6 from the kings who brought gold, myrrh, and frankincense to baby Jesus.
• “We traverse afar.” How far could one travel by foot and camel in the twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany, when tradition says the kings reached Bethlehem? Of course, it's only an assumption that the star first appeared the night Jesus was born. Matthew doesn’t say.   

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And so forth. None of this is to belittle the rich, non-biblical traditions of Three Kings Day, even the bean in the cake. Folklore takes on life and meaning of its own, regardless of its supposed origin in history or scripture.
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Image: From the opera Amahl and the Night Visitors by Gian Carlo Menotti, 1958 performance. I always loved this annual TV special about a surprise visit from the Three Kings.