(drum music)
- So this is how your family always spends
Three Kings Day?
- Oh yeah, sometimes we're low on instruments
and we grab pots and pan.
- It's a party.
(upbeat Latin music)
(foreign language)
- Bye, muah.
Hey!
Happy Three Kings Day.
(foreign language)
- Happy Three Kings Day! - Come on in, enter, enter.
- Thank you.
Wow, it looks amazing in here.
Thank you for having me.
- Of course.
Welcome, welcome.
- It's still so festive.
- I know.
We like to keep the party going in this Puerto Rican house.
We've got the three kings.
I've been cooking all day and I got a lot of food, so
we should start eating.
And I got desserts and a little surprise.
- Oh yeah, let's go, yeah.
So I know how Dominicans celebrate Three Kings Day.
I have never celebrated in Puerto Rico, so please.
- [Ivan] Okay. - Tell me how you celebrate!
- Well, you're in it for a treat.
I mean, in Puerto Rico it's all about partying.
It's all about music and family.
So, you're always gonna see people with guiros
maracas, tambourines, like parrandas
we call them.
Which is like our version of Christmas caroling.
And we sing to three kings
because you know, we as Puerto Ricans
a lot of us are very religious.
So we do celebrate the three kings for what they did
and the presents they brought to baby Jesus.
So we have arroz con gandules
we got pernil, platanos maduros, tostones
pasteles and I got budin.
Which is pudding.
- We call that arepas.
- [Ivan] Arepas, interesting.
And then we got tembleque
which is, I love it
it's like a coconut creamy pastry.
- I'm very excited to eat that.
- I don't know if you've had this before.
I made coquito.
(woman squealing)
Have you heard of coquito?
- I have, I have!
- Let's just serve it cause you know.
- Yay.
- We gotta start with with a kick.
(foreign language)
Okay.
- Cheers.
- Salud. - [Monica] Salud.
- Mmm, mmm.
- That's good.
(foreign language)
That's dangerous.
(foreign language) - And I'll get the pork.
- So how is Three Kings Day different from Christmas?
- Well, you know, as you know, it's not Christmas.
It's January 6th.
So it is one of the most important days for Puerto Ricans
during this holiday season.
This is the day that the three kings actually came
to bring gifts to baby Jesus.
And they followed the North Star.
So in Puerto Rico, most of the kids get the best gifts
for Three Kings Day because it is kind of like our version
of Christmas Day, in a way.
Bueno, I know you love the tostones.
- I love tostones!
- So here you go
but I also got maduros, cause you know
we gotta give it our all.
- All plantains are welcome here.
- Pasteles is like the most iconic
traditional Puerto Rican holiday dish.
Moms and grandmas and tias start making pastels
like starting in the summer
and they start freezing them
because everyone's gonna want them.
- Let's try it.
- [Ivan] Mm.
- Mmm hmm.
That's amazing.
- That tastes like holidays, right there.
- Yes, can you explain exactly what pasteles are?
- It's like a tamal but it's made out of plantain
like mash plantain.
And then we wrap it in a banana leave
and then we put either pork or chicken.
We're literally eating plantain in all the different forms.
But that's how it is.
The Three Kings Day eve
we usually go out to someone's house
and they're having a party
and then you're gonna see a table
with all the little figurines of the three kings
or maybe a big three, like a big set of three kings.
And then everyone is like singing and dancing.
And you're gonna see a lot of coquito.
- Yes!
- You're gonna see a lot of pitorro
which is like our version of moonshine
and that is a intense alcohol right there.
- That's gonna take you out. - [Ivan] Oh yeah.
So one of my favorite traditions for Three Kings Day is
that we leave hay on a shoebox under our bed.
And then that's where the camels
and the three kings leave the presents.
So the hay is for the camels
because that's like our Santa's cookies.
But for the camels.
- Yeah, it's totally our version
of leaving milk and cookies out.
- [Ivan] Exactly.
- Even more practical, I feel like.
(foreign language)
I'm so full, but we still got dessert.
But if you want, we can take it to the living room
and continue the party over there.
I got some parranda instruments.
- Yes, I need the partying I was promised.
- Okay and I'm gonna take the coquito too.
All right, I'm feeling this coquito for sure.
This is dessert time.
(foreign language)
- Yes.
This is so good.
- Can I try that one? - Yeah, we need to swap.
Swap, swap, swap.
- Because this one I haven't tried.
- What is this made of?
(foreign language)
It's like coconut.
It's like coconut cream, milk.
- I love coconut everything.
- [Ivan] Mmm.
- Mmm hmm hmm.
(foreign language)
That's amazing.
- It's not a real Three King's Day party
if there's no instruments.
We like doing parrandas over here
and we just start like, grabbing an instrument and playing.
So, this ones are fun.
This is my favorite, but.
- Oh wow, you have a full drum set.
- [Ivan] Yeah.
- There's a whole band.
- It comes in a set of three
and then every, every one of them has
like a different rhythm.
And then hit harder with your fingers
so it bounces.
(drum music) - So this is how your family
always spends Three Kings Day? - [Ivan] Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Sometimes we're low on instruments and we grab pots and pan.
- It's a party.
It's a party with your own music.
- For the dominos.
- Oh yes, we're gonna play dominoes.
- Si.
Do you hear that?
Are those the camels?
- Is that the camels?
- I think so.
With the three kings. - Yeah, we have to go look.
- [Ivan] Oh my gosh, I'm so excited.
Let's go.
- Where is it?
Oh my gosh.
- They really come.
- Wow.
- Oh my God. They left the mess with the hay
but they left gifts. - As long as there's gifts.
- Oh my gosh, I think this is yours.
Oh yeah, it says Monica and it's blue.
It matches your outfit.
- Oh my gosh.
Thank you camels.
Thank you, thank you.
(foreign language)
- What did you get?
I'm gonna have you open it first.
- Oh my gosh.
It's a very cute robot.
- Oh, that's adorable.
- I love this.
I love the colors. Okay, what do you have in there?
- Oh okay.
They knew I needed a new lighting for my apartment.
- That's fancy.
- [Ivan] Okay, this is fancy.
(Monica laughing)
- And I have to say, I feel like
Three Kings Day in the DR and Puerto Rico
are very different.
- Yeah, it looks like it.
- Yeah well, thank you for coming and experiencing this.
You really made my Three Kings Day
because I was accompanied by a great person
and we got to learn from each other.
That was awesome.
Well, I guess there's only one thing left to do.
- [In Unison] Happy Three Kings Day.
(upbeat Latin music)