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The Equity Stop Did You Know? By Jessica L. Chapman, Esq. Don’t put away those Christmas decorations just yet! The holiday season is not over. Did you know that in Hispanic culture, a big part of the holidays is celebrating Three Kings Day, also known as the Epiphany? This celebration originates from the Christian tradition of celebrating the day when the three Wise Men or Magi traveled by horse, camel, and elephant to present gifts to baby Jesus. Throughout the years, Three Kings Day has become an integral part of Hispanic culture. In Puerto Rico, the night of January 5th each year, children go outside and fill a shoe box with grass for the camels, which they place under their beds. While the children sleep, the camels come eat the grass and leave a gift for the children in their shoe box. On January 6th, the children wake up with excitement to see if the camels came by. Later that day, the whole family will go to the town’s grand celebration where three men dressed as the Wise Men – Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar – ride around the streets on horses throwing candies for the children. I remember waking up on January 6th as a child and checking everywhere to see if it had been my mom who took the grass from the shoe box but I could never find any traces of it. To this day, when I spend this holiday with my mom in Puerto Rico, she makes me cut grass for the camels. Nothing makes you feel young again like cutting grass outside and stuffing it in a shoe box. In the morning, I can’t help trying to find where she put the grass while I slept. I have never been able to find any signs of grass, which can only mean one thing – the camels are real! I love the rich culture I grew up with but what I love most is celebrating with my family and creating memories that will stay with me forever.
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