In the Caribbean and New Orleans, Three Kings day, or the Feast of the Epiphany, or Dia de los Reyes, is a major festival – the kickoff of Carnival season, which runs until Lent.
In New York City, the festival is celebrated in Caribbean neighborhoods in Brooklyn, and Puerto Rican communities throughout the city.
The biggest celebration is in East Harlem, where the 47th annual Three Kings Day parade steps off Friday at 11 a.m.
All three of the three kings at the parade last year.
Reece T. Williams/Gothamist
Organizer Chelsey Pellot with El Museo del Barrio, which puts on the parade, said bringing traditions from Puerto Rico to New York was a big part of maintaining cultural ties in the first wave of migration in the last century.
“Three Kings Day is a huge deal on the island,” Pellot said. “In the Caribbean, these holidays extend from Christmas going on into February, so bringing that tradition really helped the community preserve that culture and bring in the new generation.”
This year’s theme is “Tradiciones: Keeping Our Stories Alive.”
The parade will march down Park Avenue from East 106th Street to East 115th Street, and feature live music, dancing, 12-foot tall papier-mache puppets, three parade “kings” in costume and two live camels dressed in nativity garb.
A trio of camels stands on a sidewalk, outside their mobile stable during last year’s event.
Reece T. Williams/Gothamist
After the parade, El Museo will host a performance from the Grammy-nominated Los Pleneros de la 21, with free admission to the galleries included as well. You can reserve a spot here.
Across the city, Williamsburg’s Graham Avenue, also known as Avenue of Puerto Rico, will host its own parade on Sunday Jan. 14, starting at 3 p.m.
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