Epiphany Parade

Saturday evening we went to the Three Kings parade in Madrid. Spain has different Christmas traditions than most other countries. The beginning of Christmas in Spain is the Spanish national lottery draw held on December 22nd. We did not participate in this though, as lotteries are more like a tax for idiots than a good way to win money.

The Spanish are very Catholic, and the Christmas markets are full of figures for nativity scenes. Madrid put loads of Christmas lights up. Here is the tree in Sol.

Inside the tree

The entire tree

We were in France for most of the Christmas period, so we did not see the Spanish traditions.

 In Spain it is not Santa who brings the children their presents, but the Three Kings or 'Los Reyes Magos'. On the 5th January, the eve of Epiphany cities and towns hold parades. In Madrid there were floats, people throwing candy and that kind of thing. The parade had camels, donkeys, goats, elephants, geese, sheep, and a zebra. Parents bring ladders to the parade so that the children can see. I did not get any good photos of the parade as it was too dark.