Culture & Community | Arts & Culture | Arts & Anti-racism | Puerto Ricans United, Inc. | Casa Otoñal, Inc.
Top: Fernando Ramirez, Frank Villa and Eddie Cajigas as the three kings. Bottom: Neycha Santiago and her daughters, four-year-old Amelia and six-year-old Scarlette. Lucy Gellman Photos.
Just off Sylvan Avenue, El Centro was bustling. On one side of the room, six-year-old Scarlette Santiago made a beeline for a bright-eyed baby doll tucked beneath a table, still waiting for her forever home. Her four-year-old sister Amelia studied a play-dough starter set, complete with an animated, goofily smiling airplane across the front. Across the room, Marc Anthony’s “Vivir Mi Vida” blasted from a speaker, and José Omar began to dance. Three wise men adjusted their long, silken robes and kept the beat.
Saturday, over 650 families passed through the community center at Casa Otoñal, Inc. for its annual observance of Día de Los Reyes Magos or Three Kings Day, commemorating the visit of three wise men to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem. Held each year on or just before the holiday, the event centers and celebrates the Hill’s rich and diverse community, including hundreds of Puerto Rican families who have made the neighborhood their home.
Over two decades in, it has become a festive tradition at Casa Otoñal, which provides subsidized housing and social services to New Haveners with a focus on those in the Latino community. As in past years, it received support from Puerto Ricans United, Inc., New Haven Hispanic Firefighters Association, and the Ricardo Torres Jr. Memorial Scholarship Fund. New Haven Reads, Possible Futures, and Michelina's on State also jumped in to provide bilingual books and gifts.
“It’s a special day for us,” said PRU President Joe Rodriguez, who grew up putting a box of grass beneath his bed to celebrate the kings’ arrival. “It was a tradition that I passed down to my daughter. It’s not lost on me and so many of us that a lot of people are still hurting financially, and this is an opportunity for us to share this moment with them. It means a lot that we can do this … it’s really a labor of love.”
It’s also a central part of New Haven’s cross-cultural identity, thanks largely to the city’s vibrant and growing Latino population. Celebrated 12 days after Christmas, Día de Los Reyes commemorates the visit of the three kings or magi to the baby Jesus, who they found following the Star of Bethlehem. In the Bible, the magi bring Jesus gold, frankincense, and myrrh; in New Haven, board books, card games, Lego sets and all make and manner of toys are much more common.
It is especially significant in the city’s Hill neighborhood, where a large part of the population is Latino and Afro-Caribbean, and grew up celebrating the holiday. After Día de Los Reyes, some Puerto Rican families go on to celebrate for eight days, in what is called Las Octavitas (read more about that here, in our coverage of Día de Los Reyes at the New Haven Free Public Library).
Yareidys Camacho and her mom, Yaritza Camacho.
Saturday, that sense of anticipation stretched halfway down Sylvan Avenue, as strains of salsa drifted through the wintry air and families queued outside for a chance to meet Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar, all waiting in their crowns and robes inside. Outside El Centro, a rooster crowed his hellos from inside a petting zoo, unphased by the cold as he made his way around long-haired rabbits and a trio of lambs.
As she entered cautiously through a gate, Yareidys Camacho beamed, gently extending her hand to a brown and white dappled goat as her mom looked on from the sidewalk nearby. A fourth grader at Fair Haven School, she’s been learning about Día de Los Reyes for years from her mom, who came to Connecticut from Puerto Rico as a young adult. This year, she asked the kings for makeup.
“You feel like you’re home,” said her mom, Yaritza Camacho. As she petted the goats, Yareidys channeled her energy into a bright year ahead, complete with a visit with the kings inside. Just beyond the center’s front door, New Haveners Fernando Ramirez, Eddie Cajigas and Frank Villa had already transformed into wise men, and were waiting to say hello.
All three hold the event close: Cajigas is a board member at PRU; Ramirez is the president of the New Haven Hispanic Firefighters Association and Villa is a resident at Casa Otoñal, where he has slipped into costume for the event several years in a row.
Inside, Santiago and her daughters made their way from the kings to a long table stacked with age-appropriate toys, from doe-eyed Barbie dolls to magnetic stacking blocks fit for a future engineer. Santiago, who was born in Lares, Puerto Rico and moved to California when she was six, called the event a chance to teach her daughters about Three Kings Day. While they have come to Casa Otoñal for several years, this January marks the first time that they talking about the tradition.
“It’s a great way to connect with my culture,” Santiago said as her daughters, six-year-old Scarlette and four-year-old Arielle, eyeing a small mountain of toys nearby. As a girl, she grew up leaving a box of grass or hay beneath her bed, for the camels that the Three Kings ride into Bethlehem. Now, she’s excited to pass it on to the next generation.
Around the girls, volunteers buzzed around each other, eager to help each tiny attendee find the right toy. As she spotted the trio, Wintergreen Magnet School student Jaliyah Griswold steadied a sparkling crown and walked toward them.
Top: José Omar.“It’s very important for the kids, for the grandpa, for the grandma, for everyone, it’s a beautiful day for everyone in the world,” he said. Bottom: Vivian and Jaliyah Griswold.
For months, she’s been volunteering alongside other young Boricuas as a winner in the Miss Puerto Rico of Greater New Haven pageant, in which she was recently promoted to princess. For her, events like Saturday’s— for which her whole family came out to assist—help her feel closer to her roots. January is special to her: last year she performed an original monologue poking fun at other Americans for such a short Christmas season.
“I love events like these,” she said. “I know the state has, like, the most Puerto Ricans [by percentage], but it doesn’t always feel like that. At my school, we don’t celebrate Three Kings Day. We don’t celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. I want more people to be proud of their heritage.”
“For me, it brings me back to my childhood ,” added her mom, Vivian Griswold, whose family hails from Patillas, Puerto Rico. “It’s a way to teach the culture to my children.”
NHPS Community Care Coordinator José Camacho joins in music-making, which included both recorded music and a live band later in the celebration.
As chatter swirled through the room in a mix of English and Spanish, the culture felt alive. In front of a small audience, José Omar grabbed another resident’s hand and began to dance. At the door, PRU matriarch Maritza Rosa tapped her feet and swayed gently. Somewhere in a growing crowd, schools Superintendent Dr. Madeline Negrón chatted with Alanna Destinee Herbert, who was crowned Miss Puerto Rico of Greater New Haven last year.
“It’s very important for the kids, for the grandpa, for the grandma, for everyone, it’s a beautiful day for everyone in the world,” said Omar, who hails from Bayamon, Puerto Rico. “God bless you, everyone.”
That was true back outside, as members of the City Angels Baseball Academy shot hoops in an inflated basketball net and milled around the petting zoo. Warm beneath a lush brown coat, mini-mule Mr. Don Vito buried his head in a pile of hay, ravenously hungry. Atop his head, a silver crown glowed with ruby stones and red and white trim. After a Christmas season of live nativities, he seemed at ease, eyes big and gentle when kids approached to pet him.
Mr. Don Vito.
“It’s good!” said Jenny Goduto, who had traveled with Vito from DeMartino's Farm in Seymour. While she does not personally observe Three Kings Day, she loves Christmas, she said—and was excited to help bring joy to the Hill before the holiday.
As they visited with him, teenage sisters Cindy and Yendiliz Reyes said they were thrilled to be there. Raised in Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico, the two just recently moved to Hamden to be closer to family members. While the two are now old enough to know that the three kings are just people in costume, they are still committed to keeping the the magic alive for the young people around them.
“It means a lot,” Yendiliz said.