The
long awaited day is almost upon us, tomorrow the Three Wizard Kings will arrive
to Spain to give presents to the children who have been good and coal to those
who have been naughty. However before their arrival they need the help of somebody
else: the Royal Herald or the Heraldo Real. His job is to go around the streets
of Seville and collect the key to the city and give it to the Kings. His huge
entourage of Bedouins will collect all the letters the children wrote to Caspar, Melchior or Balthazar. This year we were there to see it too.
It’s
a great thing that the route of the Heraldo was long as there were lots of
people, especially children waiting to see him. We were standing on the side of the
road with many excited people waiting for the spectacle. The rows were
three people deep, the first consisting of children clutching containers or
plastic bags, the second of their parents who were pushing their offspring to
the front, and the last row was filled with spectators like us who didn't want
to get any sweets and just wanted to see what happens.
Finally
the drums in the distance were growing louder and we saw the first people in the procession. They were policemen on horses trying to clear away the crowd
form the road.
Then
some other people came all wearing suits, I guess they are Seville’s public
figures.
After
them came the first band with lots of members who kept greeting their friends
on the side of the street, stepping over to give a kiss or say hello.
Then
came the crowd of Bedouins who were interestingly represented by people with
their faces painted brown! They seemed to be a happy bunch, wore colourful
clothes and laughed at everybody. They all had two bags on their shoulders full
of sweets which they gave out to the children.
Behind
them came a huge colourful box, this is where all the letters to the Kings
went.
Then
finally the Heraldo! He had a few Bedouins escorting him on horseback. He threw
loads of sweets left and right.
Then
another band closed the procession.
By
the time everybody left the street was covered with sweets. The little girl in
front of me filled her plastic bag with lots of yummy things. We have here the
ones we collected, too.
Not
far after the band came the 'cleaning-up gang' who spirited away the leftover
sweets and empty wrappings.
This
was only a 'teaser', the main event will happen tomorrow.
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