All About Three Kings Day
On tip toes, pre-K students from Webster Hill School looked out their classroom door window to see if, in fact, camels came into the school and left gifts in their shoes - a pastime Puerto Rican and Latin American families celebrate on Three Kings Day.
While Randi Leopold"s 16 pre-K students napped Friday afternoon, she and teacher Rachel Burnett left little gifts - a ruler, stickers and a frog toy - in their shoes outside the classroom.
When students woke up, they looked outside to see if any footprints led to an entrance of the school. Students checked with principal Jeff Wallowitz, who was in on the secret. He told students that camels did come to the school bringing gifts.
When they walked into the hallway, students found their shoes filled with these gifts, and still walking around in their socks, students followed a trail of hay to an outer door of the school.
Three Kings Day concludes the Christmas season and is prominent among Puerto Rican and Latin American culture. In Christian tradition, three wise men, or three kings, arrived in Bethlehem on camels with gifts for newborn Jesus.
Three Kings Day includes festive bread, baked either with a small Jesus figurine or a coin. The person who has a slice with the Jesus figurine or coin is to host the Three Kings Day celebration the next year.
As different holidays approach, Leopold makes a point to recognize them and talk about the true meaning of each holiday and "celebrate diversity." She"s celebrated the Three Kings Day holiday with her students the last nine years, she said. Though none of her current students celebrated Three Kings Day, some of her past students did.
"The pre-K kids learned all about what Three Kings day actually is and this was the culmination," Leopold said.
Source: http://www.courant.com/community/west-hartford/hc-west-hartford-webster-hill-three-kings-day-0107-20170106-story.html
