Israel Houghton's wife Adrienne Bailon, one of the co-hosts of the daytime talk show "The Real," revealed on Friday how she and her family observe the popular Latin Christian holiday called Three Kings Day or El Dia De Los Reyes.
Bailon, who is of Puerto Rican descent, said she and thousands of other children from Latin America and Spain observe the holiday every Jan. 6, according to The Christian Post.
"It's a major Hispanic Christmas tradition, especially for me as a Boricua [Puerto Rican living in the U.S.]," Bailon said on the show. "Pretty much we don't want Christmas to stop so we also celebrate the Three Kings. Since I was a little girl I would also put some grass under my bed and my mom would replace the grass with a little gift for me in the day time."
But hiding grass aside, people do so much more to celebrate the special holiday. Some of them host community parades or lavish parties, while others gather every year to taste a mile-long "Rosca de Reyes."
The "Rosca de Reyes," also known as the Wreath of the Kings, is a large, oval-shaped cake filled with sweetened dried fruit. A small figurine representing the baby Jesus is hidden inside the cake, which commemorates the hiding of Jesus from King Herod, according to the Latin Times. Whoever is lucky enough to get the slice with the figurine has to host another party on Feb. 2, which is known as the "Día de la Candelaria."
Many people celebrate Three Kings Day, known formally as the Feast of the Epiphany, because they want to commemorate the visit of the three kings to Jesus. In Latin America, the holiday is even bigger than Christmas.
