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WILKES-BARRE — While Navidad, or Christmas, is a day of great celebration, 12 days after that feast comes a day that is almost as big, says Catalina Aguilar.
El Dia de Reyes, also known as the Epiphany, is marked this Saturday. It’s a time to get together with friends and relatives and celebrate the arrival of the three kings, or magi, who are believed to have brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to Bethlehem to honor the baby Jesus.
“It is a tradition,” said Aguilar, who has been busy all week at the Amigon Bakery on Park Avenue, where she and her husband, Andres Rosas, have been baking loaves upon loaves of sugar-crusted Mexican bread.
“Chocolate. Hot chocolate,” is the best drink to accompany the bread, said customer Maria Tlaseca, of Wilkes-Barre, as she purchased several of the round rolls along with some fresh plantains.
For people hungry for even fancier fare, Aguilar and Rosas have been shaping large rings of Rosca de Reyes. Designed to be fit for a king, these sweet, rich breads are studded with candied cherries, prunes and colorful citron that look like the jewels in a crown.
To make the Dia de Reyes gathering a little more interesting, the bakers follow the tradition of slipping a tiny figure of the baby Jesus into the rosca dough. No one knows which family member or guest at a particular get-together might receive that piece of the finished product.
When that person discovers the baby, he or she accepts the obligation of providing food for the next party — traditionally a gathering at the middle point of winter, also known as Candlemas Day.
“They have to make the tamales on Febrero 2,” Aguilar said, holding up two fingers to signify Feb. 2.
In addition to pastries, cookies and cakes, the Amigon Bakery carries groceries ranging from fresh papayas, tomatillas and jalapeno peppers to queso blanco (white cheese), coconut, tamarind and peanut candies.
And you can find plenty of ingredients for South of the Border-style cooking here, from spice packets soup to jars of tejocote apples that, Aguilar explained, “You need for ponche (punch).”
