Three Kings Cake is a Hispanic tradition showing reverence for the Christ Child

Carlos Palacián grew up in Spain, where Christmas gifts appear on Jan. 6, the solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord (which we mark this year on Sunday, Jan. 3). Carlos remembers cleaning and polishing one shoe the night before and placing it in the living room so the Three Kings would have a spot to leave his gifts.

“In the morning, whatever was around your shoe was yours,” said Carlos, now 48 and a member of Christ the King Parish in Seattle. “Pretty much all of Spain celebrated the same.”

That meant his two sisters and parents also had carefully placed shoes so the Magi wouldn’t miss them. Villages and cities celebrated with parades; the Palacián family went to Mass; and, always a constant, the clan dined with their grandparents. Carlos doesn’t remember a specific holiday menu, but he says without fail the meal included Three Kings Cake, or Roscón de Reyes, with its Christ Child trinket tucked inside.

In St. Matthew’s Gospel we have the account of the epiphany, or manifestation, of the Christ Child to the Wise Men, representatives of the non-Jewish world. It was a huge deal for non-Jewish converts to Christianity that the King of the Jews would manifest himself as their Savior as well.

This year, I am making the Three Kings cake that the Spanish-speaking world holds so dear. (Other European countries and Eastern-rite churches have their versions of the cake, too.) I found Roscón de Reyes in older Spanish cookbooks. I’ve modified and combined the recipes somewhat, in one attempt using dried apricots and cherries instead of candied fruit — just a personal preference.  

I hold hope that this feast will gain popularity in this country, as it has in one corner of our state. Lois and Del Brown of Raymond in Pacific County have a large, extended family. Christmas is taken up with Mass and family gatherings. Lois said they wanted some special time for friends after Christmas. Epiphany seemed perfect.

Lois and her husband, members of St. Lawrence Parish, found cards with gold accents and drawings of the adoring Magi. She used them for invitations. She threw a potluck and invited Father Paul Kaech, her pastor. She did not serve the cake, but she honored two guests who got the gold paper plates marked “king” or “queen” on the bottom.

So let us join the Browns and Palaciáns in remembering the Three Kings who traveled so far under hardship to discover the Christ Child.

Northwest Catholic - January/February 2016