HOLYOKE – Nueva Esperanza Inc. were host to the organization’s 23rd annual Three Kings Day Celebration on Jan. 5 at Morgan Elementary School, where families and community members joined for free food, gifts and other activities related to the holiday.

According to Nueva Esperanza Executive Director Kayla Rodriguez, the celebration has been a part of her life growing up in Holyoke as the event has served as not only a community gathering but also an offering of education on the holiday and Puerto Rican faith and tradition. Now recently taking on the role of executive director, Rodriguez was happy to take the lead in setting up the community event.

“It means everything to me, especially this year with all our turnover,” Rodriguez said. “The community and community leaders came together and helped out. They actually reached out to me and said, ‘Hey, are you doing this this year? Let’s get together.’ The support I’ve gotten with other organizations and the community in general has been amazing.”

In Puerto Rico, the celebration of Three Kings Day (Día de los Reyes Magos) on Jan. 6 is a traditional holiday with religious and cultural significance. It marks the day when the three wise men, also known as the three kings or three magi, visited baby Jesus and brought him the gifts.

Children in Puerto Rico who celebrate the holiday will leave a box filled with grass on the evening of Jan. 5 as a way to welcome the three kings and their camels. When they wake in the morning the stable, represented as the grass filled shoe box, is filled with toys for children.

Throughout the island, communities then host parades and fiestas in celebration and to honor the importance of the three kings’ arrival to baby Jesus.

The January holiday also plays out as one of the final days of the overall season of giving. The event this year saw 500 toys given to children in Holyoke and surrounding communities. A section within the gym of Morgan School was filled with large boxes filled with toys, showcasing the work done this year by the organization in getting gifts out to children in need for the holiday.

Rodriguez remembers living across the street from Morgan School while growing up and said she is happy to be a part of keeping the tradition alive for new generations of children.

“I just want to make sure that the biblical story is there and not forget it. It’s not just here come get a toy. We’re trying to teach our kids in the community to kind of be a little more grateful and just come and engage with the community, have fun, enjoy and get together,” Rodriguez said.

The event also saw multiple other activities set up to correlate with the traditions of the holiday. Children were able to write letters to the kings, decorate their bag with hay (grass), decorate their own cookies and brownies and bedazzle their own crowns.

As well as free meals, there were musical performances from Bomba de Aqui, Lesley Hernandez and Juan Rivera from VCare Holyoke ADHC. Also in attendance of the event was Pastor Rosanna Lopez from Iglesias de Dios Mateo to share the Three Kings biblical story with families.