20.000 people receive the Three Kings in Blanes

More than 20.000 people took to the streets yesterday Blanes to receive the Wise Men from the East, who arrived escorted by a procession made up of 300 members. After touring the streets of the town, they greeted from the balcony of the Town hall.

History of the Magi

The tradition of Wise Men of the visitors who, after the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, came from foreign countries to give him gifts of great symbolic wealth: gold, frankincense and myrrh. In the Gospels, only “magi” are mentioned, their names are nowhere indicated, nor that they were kings, nor that they were three (a number that is possibly due to the number of gifts offered). These beliefs were added several centuries later and have remained in popular tradition. In the Catholic tradition, these magi were representatives of the pagan religions of neighboring peoples, who Gospels they see as the first fruits of the nations that will accept the catholic religion.

In Spain and other Latin countries there is also the tradition of representing the kings bringing the gifts that the children have asked for in their letters and are part of the manger together with Joseph, the baby Jesus and the Virgin Mary.

The Magi in the Gospel

In Chapter 2 (verses 1 to 12) of the Gospel of Saint Matthew, the reference to these magicians is found for the first time. According to the evangelist Saint Matthew, shortly after Jesus was born, the wise men traveled from the East to Bethlehem, guided by a luminous star and asking where the king of the Jews had been born to worship him and offer him mystical gifts.

The Adoration of the Magi, Chapter 2 (verses 1–12)

1. Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea when King Herod ruled. And behold, wise men came from the east to Jerusalem,
2. asking: Where is the king of the Jews, who has been born? For seeing his star in the east, we have come to adore him
3. When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
4. And summoned all the chief priests, and the scribes of the people, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.
5. They said to him: In Bethlehem of Judea; for thus it is written by the prophet:
6. And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah. Because a guide will come out of you, who will shepherd my people Israel.
7. Then Herod secretly called the wise men, and diligently inquired of them the time of the appearance of the star;
8. and sending them to Bethlehem, he said: Go, and find out diligently about the child; and when you find him, let me know, so that I too can go and worship him.
9. And they, having heard the king, went their way; And behold, the star that they had seen in the east went before them, until Arriving, he stopped over where the child was.
10. Seeing the star, they rejoiced with great joy.
11. And when they entered the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and prostrating themselves, they adored him; and opening his treasures, they offered him present: gold, frankincense and myrrh.
12. But being warned by revelation in a dream not to return to Herod, they returned to their country by another way.