What to know
- Three big heads in the role of Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar made their entrance in the Big Apple and moved through the streets of Harlem to the rhythm of salsa, performed by several children’s orchestras from public schools in the city and the Brazilian percussion group Fogo Azul .
- The Museo del Barrio was the organizer of the parade, and although some traditional elements of this day were preserved (such as the presence of pages and a couple of camels in the parade), their majesties did not bring gold, myrrh or incense as gifts.
- In addition, each king wore a different costume inspired by emblematic characters of the Spanish community (the writer Miguel de Cervantes), Taíno from the Caribbean (the poet Anacaona) and African (the historian Arturo Schomburg), according to Helena Vidal, a museum worker.
NEW YORK — The three Wise Men arrived this Friday with their camels to the New York neighborhood of Harlem, where they paraded in a traditional parade followed by hundreds of people and which was marked by the fusion of Latin American, Spanish and African cultures.
Three big heads in the role of Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar made their entrance into the Big Apple and moved through the streets of Harlem to the rhythm of salsa, performed by several children’s orchestras from public schools in the city and the Brazilian percussion group Fogo Azul .
The Museo del Barrio was the organizer of the parade, and although some traditional elements of this day were preserved (such as the presence of pages and a couple of camels in the parade), their majesties did not bring gold, myrrh or incense as gifts.
“Gaspar carries a tree as a gift, representing the forest, Melchor is the sea and carries a turtle, and Baltasar is the night sky and carries in his hands a bat that illustrates the cosmos and the stars on its wings,” he explained to EFE Chris Moffet, the creator of the suits.
In addition, each king wore a different costume inspired by emblematic characters of the Spanish community (the writer Miguel de Cervantes), Taíno from the Caribbean (the poet Anacaona) and African (the historian Arturo Schomburg), according to Helena Vidal, a museum worker.
Behind the big heads, made with paper mache and designed ten years ago by the Mexican Polina Porras, a float carried two other human wise men (the third could not attend the event) who were accompanied by five godmothers, five godfathers and a man in costume. camel
From the float, one of the kings waved a small Palestinian flag, in a show of solidarity with the Palestinian people that has been seen in other large and family events in New York, such as the Thanksgiving Parade.
But the real protagonist of the parade was the music, and their majesties were followed by several pages who sang songs from their floats, mostly Cuban and Puerto Rican, as well as Garifuna artists (descendants of Africans and Carib aborigines) who animated the parade with dances and typical rhythms of their community.
The parade paraded this year under the motto “Traditions: Keeping our stories alive” and vindicated the customs of the Latin American community, very present in the city: “It is a way to keep our identity and the traditions of all of Latin America alive,” he told EFE the director of the museum, Patrick Charpenel.
“The parade is a star that guides us as a community to grow, be more united and erase our differences,” added Charpenel.
2024-01-05 22:02:36
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