Remember the Christmas song “12 days of Christmas”? Many stores want you to believe the 12 days refer to before Christmas. Time to go out, buy gifts and crank up that economy. Thing is, the 12 days start on Christmas day and end on January 6th. According to a Bible story the three kings (Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar) saw a bright star on Christmas. They followed it to Bethlehem and the Christchild. There, they gave him gifts of gold (precious metal), frankincense (a perfume) and myrrh (an anointing oil). Which were the standard gifts given to kings at the time.The symbolic of the gifts can be found in the Christmas carol “We Three Kings”. Both videos can be found at the bottom of this page.
When is it?
January 6th is the traditional date of the celebration, 12 days after Christmas. In some countries the celebration is 13 days later, on January 19th. Other countries have changed it so it always lands on a Sunday; the first Sunday after January 1st.
Why the discrepancy? A lot has to do with “the new calendar”. There are lots of calendars but the Gregorian calendar is the most widely used. It’s named after Pope Gregory XIII and was introduced in 1582. Switzerland adopted the calendar in 1700. Quite simply, there is a 13 day difference between the old and new calendar. Three Kings’ Day was originally celebrated on January 6th. January 6th turned into January 19th with the new calendar. Now, do you keep the verbal date, the real day or make it land on a Sunday? Decisions, decisions.
Celebration and Traditions
How is Three Kings’ Day celebrated? It depends on where you are. In Switzerland it is celebrated 12 days after Christmas, on January 6th. It is actually a work-free holiday in the Cantons of Uri, Schwyz and some municipalities in Graubunden.
To celebrate you buy a traditional 3 Kings’ sweet roll bread which comes with a folded paper crown. It is eaten with family, friends or co-workers. Hidden in one of the rolls is a plastic king. Whoever has the roll with the king becomes “King for a day”. They also get to wear the paper crown. They may also end up at the dentist with a broken tooth. The tooth Problem has luckily never happened to anyone I know.
Personally I’ve eaten very few of these because they often have raisins in them and I don’t particularly like raisins. I usually eloquently pick the raisins out of the bread and stack them on a plate. I can do this well because I’ve had years of practice with other sweet rolls. If I’m with people other than family, I just eat them and hope I won’t die.
I asked Ben if his family had any traditions they followed on Three Kings’ Day. He said except for the special cake and becoming king for a day he didn’t think so. Then he remembered that that was the day they always took down their Christmas decorations. I looked that up and indeed, it is customary to take down Christmas decorations on January 6th. It is considered ill-fated if they are left up longer.
The Three Kings’ are Everywhere
Once, a few days after Three Kings’ Day, we were invited to dinner at friends who lived in Bümpliz. We found a parking space right across the street from where they lived. When I got out of the car I was standing in front of a restaurant named Three Kings. For some reason they were closed. Ben and I mused about what days they were open. Perhaps only once a year, on January 6th? I was pretty sure of what they served.
12 days of Christmas
We Three Kings
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