El Mensajero

Photos by TIMES LEADER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER AIMEE DILGER

The Feast of the Epiphany, or Three Kings’ Day, on Jan. 6 is filled with celebration and marked with a special bread in the Hispanic community.

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Julian Torres takes the bread from the oven to be decorated.

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Boxes of Rosca de Reyes wait to be picked up at Torres Bakery and Deli. Above, Julian Torres decorates a ring of bread.

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Rosca de Reyes, or Three Kings’ Bread, has a tiny doll of the Jesus Christ baked into it, representing the biblical story of Christ’s flight from King Herod, who in order to eliminate the challenge from a Messiah killed all children from newborns to 2 years old in Bethlehem.

Wise men, or Magi, followed a bright star to Bethlehem to find the Christ Child and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The wise men, Melchior, Gaspar and Balthasar, visited Herod, who asked to be informed of the Christ Child’s whereabouts so that he too could pay his respects. But the wise men were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod and returned to their native lands by other routes.

Mexican tradition holds that the person who finds the doll must provide tamales at a party on Feb. 2, also known as Candlemas Day, when Mary presented Jesus at the temple. Depending upon the country, the recipes for the ring-shaped bread differ, but they usually included dried or candied fruit.