World Rover      TRAVEL MAGAZINE.      2001    

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Tenerife:
                Christmas comes but twice a year

                                    if you visit Tenerife in the Canaries   for    The Festival of the Three Kings.

 How do you have your Christmas cake and eat it?

The answer is have two celebrations. Have the usual Christmas at home and two weeks later be in Tenerife in the Canaries for The Festival of the Three Kings.

I happens each year on the 5th of January. You can spend the day lying in the sun and in the the warmth of the evening, wander streets that echo to the sound of Christmas carols. They are of course sung in Spanish.

I remember standing on the beach and looking at a magnificent sand sculpture. It was of the baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph and was complete with ox, ass and angel.

Low in the sky,  not one star, but four sparkled across the bay. They were bright neon ones on top of a  four star hotel and their reflection shimmered on the water.

At Los Christianos, which is in the south of Tenerife, I joined the crowds and mingled with the  locals who gathered in front of the church where the children waited beside the fountains for the arrival of The Three Wise Men.  Naturally they were due to arrive on camels.

It was quite a parade. Youth bands appeared amid a flurry of flags. Children danced along the street waving red and yellow banners. Police cars with flashing lights edged the colourful spectacle along through a crowd that was vibrant with good humour.

A rambo style policeman held up the traffic to let the parade passed by, he was a giant of a man, complete with helmet, leather jacket and leggings.

The sound of clattering hooves filled the air as a posse of horses approached bearing splendidly dressed riders. Three palm trees appeared above the horizon of heads and beyond them what looked like a mosque was lit up green,  yellow and gold and above it hung a crescent moon.  It was a lovely warm balmy evening filled with music.  
The Three Wise Men complete with golden crowns duly appeared on white camels. The haughty beasts had been combed, pampered and polished for the occasion. On either side of their saddles were drums of sweets and handfuls of these were thrown to the children in the crowd.

In front of the church there was a crib scene with the two shepherds who were in Spanish National costume. The ‘Three Kings’ fanned by ostrich feathers, received letters from children saying what they wanted for presents..

The presents should arrive when they wake up the following day, but later that night  when the parade was over, the town was alive with children playing with toys. Families sat at open air cafes chatting land I watched one little boy follow his remote control car under the tables and chairs while his sister zapped everyone in sight with a space gun.

As opposed to our Christmas 'day' it's very much an 'evening' affair.

In Tenerife they have Christmas AND  the festival of the Three Kings. It’s worth making the trip if only to see the sparkling eyes of the children as the Three Wise Men to get their sweets and hand over their letter.  It adds a bonus to a January 'winter break'.  

http://www.tourspain.es/turespai/marcoi.htm  (link to Spanish National Tourist Office Web page)