Allan Appel Photo
King Balthazar on the job.
Mayor Toni Harp officially Friday afternoon greeted King Melchior (aka Joey Rodriguez), one of the Three Kings who arrived at Casa Otonal on Sylvan Street in the Hill to get a jump start on celebrating Three Kings Day.
The holiday marks the arrival of the kings to behold Baby Jesus in Bethlehem— and is also known as Epiphany. (Its official day of celebration was Sunday.)
“Welcome to New Haven and thank you for bringing gifts for our children,” the mayor told the king.
The mayor and the king.
Other royalty whom she greeted on this, the 20th year that Casa Otonal has been staging the event, included Balthazar, played by Casa attorney Peter Blasini, and Gaspar, embodied by longtime educator Tomas Miranda.
More than 200 gifts were purchased for the event with funds provided by the city’s Board of Alders Black and Hispanic Caucus and Puerto Ricans United, the three-year-old group that has been reviving the annual Puerto Rican Festival on the New Haven Green.
More than 100 Casa residents, senior citizens and many grandparents gathered in the community room along with neighborhood children and their parents, while the kings suited up in back and prepared to offer gifts to the kids.
The kings with Alya Rodriguez and Casa board member Magaly Cajigas.
Then, after remarks by Casa officials and the mayor — the kings were too exhausted from their journey to participate in formal remarks — the children were called in by their age group.
Three-year old Lexiel Mendez approached the kings, each of whom held a gift, and tried to choose.
No easy decision. He ended up happily with a Big Tuffie Truck.
Danae Salazar, an 8‑year-old Clinton Avenue School student, received a Pinkie Pie doll from the world of Little Pony. Her smile conveyed that it was a hit.
Danae Salazar, like many of the kids, made herself a crown before present time.
She was asked what she like best about Three Kings Day. The traditional food? The ritual that many Latino families have of placing a box, with straw, under a bed or Xmas tree, and then finding it filled with presents in the morning?
Danae said that she doesn’t know. However, she does know that her Pinkie Pie is a hit. She also chose a ball from an immense bin by the door on the way out, as her group made room for the next.
Alya Rodriguez, daughter of a king, had an inside line on one of the Rescue Runts. After she chose it, the king allowed her to speak to the press about the thought process behind her choice.
“I like animals,” the Benjamin Jepson student said. “I especially like animals I have never seen before and ones that are cute.”
Alya Rodriguez guarding the gifts.
Alya also reported that this year she expects to receive a present in a traditional straw-filled box . (The straw reminds you of Jesus in the manger.). Instead of being placed under the bed, this year it will be under the Christmas tree.
While Three Kings Day is obviously an important Christian religious celebration, it is also a cultural experience, especially among the Latino families in New Haven, Rodriguez, the king (and Board of Education member), said, during a brief interlude between his royal gifting.
Cases board member Edia Reyes said that any of the 200 or so gifts that were not given away would be passed along to the Hispanic Firefighters Association for its Three Kings Festival. That is scheduled to unfold at Clinton Avenue School on Thursday at 9 a.m.
Rodriguez said that the Latino arts organization Arte and the social service and advocacy group JUNTA will also be mounting their own Three Kings Day event on Monday at 3p.m. at the Atwater Senior Center in Fair Haven.
Balthazar was asked where the kings would spend the night; shelter is a recurring theme in their story as well as in Jesus’. His response: “We’re going to find a nice patch of straw.”
To which Melchior added: “All I want is a king-size bed.”