Culture & Community | Education & Youth | Fair Haven | Junta for Progressive Action | ARTE Inc. | Arts & Culture | Three Kings Day
Top: The Three Kings with Ryan Vega. Bottom: Camila Torres: A doll wish fulfilled. Lucy Gellman Photos.
Six-year-old Camila Torres stared, eyes wide and glittering, at a trio of small dolls, each of them smiling daintily and sprouting a pair of diaphanous wings. Around her, Christmas decorations still adorned a small stage and set of display cases, making everything feel merry and bright. Nearby, three satin-robed kings adjusted their crowns, voices raised as they announced the names of their lucky recipients one by one.
Melchior, Gaspar, and and Balthazar made a visit to the Atwater Senior Center Monday afternoon, as ARTE, Inc. and Junta for Progressive Action hosted their now-annual observance of Three Kings Day (Día de los Reyes) for four dozen students in their Big Turtle Village after-school program. The sugar-kissed, laughter-woven brainchild of ARTE co-founder David Greco and Junta Director of Programs Cheila Serrano, the celebration included both a visit from the Three Kings and a gift, lovingly wrapped and labelled, for each student.
ARTE and Junta ensured that there were enough extra gifts for students to also bring something home for their siblings, Greco said. In the weeks before the event, students also learned about the holiday, which commemorates the visit of three Wise Men to the baby Jesus after his miraculous birth in Bethlehem. It has a particular cultural significance in New Haven, where it is popular among families across the Latin American and Afro-Caribbean diaspora.
“I see the kids smiling, they’re happy, it adds a little happiness to their day,” said program assistant Lileschka Martinez, who has worked with Junta for four years, as she loaded a tray with slices of cake. With a cursory glance, she made sure each had a neat ribbon of white frosting. Growing up in Guayama, Puerto Rico, Martinez didn’t do much to celebrate the day herself, she said—but she loves seeing how it comes alive for kids in the program.
In the airy, wide room off a slush- and snow-covered Atwater Street, those words sprang to life several times over. As the Magi (here played by Bregamos Community Theater Founder Rafael Ramos, Junta Director of Development & Operation Frederic Depourcq, and artist Christian Perez) entered the room, students gasped and giggled, delighted by the sight. Many stood up to get a closer look, craning their necks and leaning in on elbows across the round tables at which they were seated.
At one table, Ramos stopped to greet Camila, her face bright as she leaned in, and told she had wished for a doll for Christmas, and was still holding out hope. At another, he extended his hand, offering a handshake to student Ryan Vega with the gravitas of a life-altering business deal. By the time he had made it around the room, stationed beside a table stacked with wrapped gifts, whispers of excitement rose and fell through the room.
Students didn’t have long to wait. As the Three Kings called students up one by one, several pairs of little hands got busy, tearing through wrapping paper decorated with green and red plaids, glossy trios of holly leaves and matching red berries. Back at her table, Camila ripped into the paper skilfully, scraps falling away as she spotted the dolls, and squealed with delight.
She stood to face the Kings, her mouth frozen for a moment in a surprised O before a smile took over. Then she turned her attention to the unwrapped box still in her hands.
Saul, new basketball in hand.
“They’re always fun,” she said of the Three Kings. A first grader at John S. Martinez Sea & Sky STEM Magnet School, she explained that she’d wished for a doll for Christmas, and had been crestfallen when one didn’t arrive. Now, she plans to bring the toys with her everywhere she goes, so they never leave her sight. “Now, I need another,” she said with a sly smile.
A few tables away, 10-year-old Saul Conce made a beeline for 9-year-old Noah Corniel, a fourth grader at the nearby Family Academy of Multilingual Exploration (FAME). Almost wordlessly, the two held out the gifts that they had just received—a basketball in Noah’s outstretched palms, and a soccer ball from Saul—and switched with a quiet nod of agreement. Only after the soccer ball was in his hands did Noah begin to glow with delight.
“I got what I needed!” he said matter-of-factly, already looking for empty space where he could try out some new fancy footwork.
“I love playing soccer,” he added. At home, playing the sport—even if it’s just him in the backyard—helps him keep his emotions in check, especially with a little brother who is always meddling in something. With a new ball, he can pretend he’s a member of his favorite team, Real Madrid.
Top: Kiana Cintron. Bottom: 9-year-old Noah Corniel after the trade.
Back at his table, Saul was equally excited for his first basketball. While he is Dominican, and grew up hearing about the Three Kings, he said that this year marked his first time really celebrating the holiday in New Haven—and he was loving it.
“In my house, there’s little to no space, even on the first floor,” Saul explained when asked about the trade. And then there is the family’s driveway, which is at an incline. “If I kick the ball, the ball would go down. I’d have to risk my life for it. I’m not doing that.” A basketball, which he can bounce instead of kick, made perfect sense.
On the side of the room with her daughter, Kiana Cintron, Serrano remembered the Three Kings’ festivities of her own youth, which were always more focused on food than they were on gifts. As the second eldest of 10 kids growing up in Fair Haven and the Hill, Serrano often saw her mom make sure there were toys for Christmas Day, and a proper feast 12 days later, for the arrival of the Three Kings.
While cooking up arroz con grandules and lechon or pernil, dishes that reminded her of home in Naranjito, Puerto Rico, her mom would remember the celebrations of her own youth, which included a shoebox filled with grass or hay beneath the bed to sate the Magi’s camels. Serrano later realized that those stories, in part, were meant for her to learn, and pass on to her own children. Years later, she has. “We always knew it was a celebration,” she said.
Top: Parent Santa Vasquez, who originally hails from the Dominican Republic, said she was thrilled to see her 7-year-old daughter, Luz Miranda, participate in the tradition. Bottom: ARTE Co-Founders Daniel Diaz and David Greco prepare celebratory cake before the celebration.
Even as students began to pack up, flying into their parents’ open arms at pickup, the room buzzed with energy. A new football made its way through the air, narrowly missing a miniature jenga set still in its neat plastic casing. A few pint-sized students stood by a table of extra gifts, analyzing what to bring home to siblings who still believed in the wonder of los Reyes.
Greco, who has never been one to stay still for very long, helped a student assemble his new action figure. ARTE co-founder Daniel Diaz, coordinator of parent engagement for the New Haven Public Schools, floated around listening to a Board of Education finance meeting, looking up periodically to see if students needed help.
“It was my Christmas!” he said of Three Kings Day, which he first celebrated as a kid growing up in Cayey, Puerto Rico. While his family was poor, he always watched his dad make sure there were toys for not just the family, but kids in the neighborhood. That generosity has stayed with him for decades, as he figures out how to give back to the community he and Greco call home.
Chloe Rivera: A meeting place of culture and faith.
“It means a lot,” chimed in student helper Chloe Rivera as she soaked in the pleasure of her new gift, a paint set that she was excited to sit down and use as a way to clear her mind.
A seventh grader at John C. Daniels School of International Communication, Rivera grew up learning about Día de los Reyes from her family, one side of which hails from Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. As both a Christian and a Puerto Rican, she sees it as part of a cultural and religious tradition that is important to keep alive, wherever one is in the diaspora.
“It means faith—beleiving in something you don’t know is entirely real,” she said. “I’m happy too. It brings me a lot of joy to see them [the students], like, the innocence that they have.”