Today is Epiphany, or El Dio de los Reyes (the Day of Kings). We were wandering through La Paz on Saturday evening, and visited a local bakery where they were making the Rosca de Reyes, which is the traditional bread that they serve on this day. It is a slightly sweetened bread shaped into a ring, and baked with dried fruit on top. The woman in the shop was kind enough to let me take this picture, and she even had slices for us to try. In France, they make a similar cake called the galette des rois in which a small plastic crown is baked into the cake, and the person who received the piece with this in it is the king or queen for the day. They are then obligated to host a party sometime later in the year.
I talked to a young man in a shop today, who told me that in his village, on Epiphany many children receive presents, similar to our Christmas. Especially the poor children, who normally have no means to have new toys, can visit the houses of people in town who have presents for them. What a lovely tradition - it must be so wonderful to see the children's faces light up as they receive their new toys. And giving to those in need - there is no better reward than that.
An epiphany, indeed.
