As I mentioned previously, the Christmas season here ends on January 6th, the Day of the Kings or Epiphany. On this day children receive gifts from the Three Wise Men. Another tradition of the day is the "Rosca de Reyes", a ring-shaped sweet bread decorated with candied fruit. In the days leading up to January 6th, the bakeries are well stocked with boxes of "roscas". On the street you often see people heading home with the boxed "ring of the Kings" which they have just purchased. Just as nearly every other family in Mexico, we went out to buy our "rosca". Actually we bought two... one for supper on January 5th and another one for the 6th.
Baked inside the "rosca" is a figure of the Baby Jesus. Whoever gets the figure in their slice is supposed to prepare tamales on February 2nd, the Feast of Candelaria. Nowadays it seems that most bakeries put several Babies inside. To me, that seems to defeat the purpose. The "ring" that we bought on January 5th, however, was traditional in that it only contained one figure. Alejandro's father got it in his slice. However, I don't think that he will be making tamales! 😆
I did not know that the custom originated in Spain, and was brought to Mexico in colonial times. Alejandro told me that in Spain the pastry is called a "roscón". Inside the "ring" there is a dry bean. Whoever gets the bean is supposed to buy the "roscón" the following year. There is also a figure of a king inside the bread. Whoever gets that is the King (or Queen) of the evening, and gets to wear a paper crown which is usually included in the box.
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