Santa Claus is only a minor distraction to Spanish children; the real fun starts when the Three Kings arrive in January

The hangover may have faded, but the shock of New Year reality has kicked in: no more Festive Season and nothing to look forward to until an inevitably cold and wet Easter somewhere in the distant future.

That may be the case in Britain, but things are different in Spain, where the big celebration hasn’t even kicked off yet. Yes, the Spanish are increasingly embracing the Christmas festival; yes, they party like mad at New Year. But the focus here is on January 6th. We know it as Epiphany; they have given it the earthier, cheerier and much more party-friendly epithet of Los Reyes – The Three Kings.

So while all of Britain is mired in midwinter gloom, all of Spain is indulging in a wild fiesta of processions and present giving and, of course, eating and drinking. The celebration marks the arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem. The logic of children receiving their gifts at this time instead of on Christmas Day is pretty clear – though that hasn’t stopped the march of commerciality in Spain, so that children now get their first round of presents on December 25th and the second, much bigger haul 12 days later.

The fun starts on January 5th with the Three Kings, Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar arriving in cities, towns and villages across the country and leading a procession of floats, doling out sweets and maybe small gifts by the bucket load.

The largest parades are, not surprisingly, in Madrid and Barcelona. In the capital, where hundreds of floats make their way from El Retiro Park to Plaza Mayor, the kings and their assistants dishing out around 7,000kg of sweets. Good news for the dentists of Madrid.

Read the full story in our January 2008 issue: click here to subscribe