Why January 6th is such a big deal

I can't take down my Christmas tree until after January 6th or my mom will have a fit!When we got back from our Christmas vacation (almost two weeks ago) I looked around my house at all the temporary Christmas decorations that adorned my home. The sight that was once joyful (not long ago) now suddenly seemed overwhelming. Taking all of this down seemed like such a chore.Although I wasn't particularly excited about putting away all of the Christmas decor, I couldn't help but want to get my house back in order before going back to work that week.This past weekend I found myself walking around the house slowly taking a few things down at a time as if to make the big ordeal a little easier on myself. I gathered the Christmas candles, Christmas themed salt and pepper shakers, the advent wreath center piece, the holiday trivia cards off the coffee table, and took down the Christmas cards that embellished the entry way into our living room. This is as far as I could go before my mom would give me a hard time about ending Christmas early. I absolutely could not take down the tree and certainly not the nativity scene- NOT before January 6th!Thousands of people around the world celebrate El Dia de los Reyes Magos, or Three Kings Day, aka Epiphany.When I was a little girl living in Panama, three kings day was the day in which my cousins and I eagerly grabbed one of our best shoes, and lined them up under the Christmas tree at our grandmother's house. One single shoe per child was found under the tree. When we'd wake up, we knew we'd have a bag of chocolates in our shoe that had been delivered by the three wise men.When we moved to the states we carried this tradition with my siblings. The treats were never a huge gift; sometimes there was one treat for all of us. I remember one year in particular in which we got a tub of cookies and cream ice cream to share. No matter the treat, we were all excited to receive it.My siblings and I don't get presents from the three wise men anymore but we carry the memories of the days that we did- like the years we got gifts that we had seen in the Avon catalogs during the years in which our mom was an Avon sales rep.Today, if you were to visit my mother's house, you would see the following written in epiphany chalk (blessed by the priest and given to church attendants on epiphany Sunday) across the top of her front door:

20+G+M+B+16

The first initial of each of the three wise men (Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar) with the calendar year broken up on the bookends of the initials. She changes the year every January 6th, but otherwise, this is written on her door year round. There is an epiphany prayer that goes along with this religious custom.People around the world celebrate three kings day in many different ways.Three Kings day signifies the day in which the 3 wise men followed the star across the dessert for 12 days (December 25th to January 6th) to Bethlehem to adore Jesus with the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.A Mexican family at our church shared their rosca de reyes (king's bread) tradition with us. This was the first time I remember hearing about this custom. She baked the oval, sweet bread and hid a small baby Jesus figurine inside it. We were told that if your slice contained the toy, you're tasked with making tamales on the "dia de las candelarias" observed on February 2nd. I looked it up, we weren't being punked. It was a real tradition.When I taught ESL (English as a Second Language), we celebrated three kings day with a feast of food and we sang christmas carols as a group to honor the different cultures represented in our classrooms.It's January 6th, and my tree and the rest of my Christmas decor is scheduled to come down this Friday- Jan. 8th after work. Mom is coming over for dinner and to help me take down the tree :). Although I personally don't treat January 6th any differently than any other day, keeping the decor up through January 6th is my way of observing the holiday.Have you heard of Three King's Day before? Do you celebrate the day? If so, how? Please share your traditions by commenting below.