"El Maraton" - 3 Kings Day

Some churches in the U.S., catholic and protestant, celebrate Epiphany. When I was small, we always went to church on Jan. 6, even if it was a weeknight evening. Honestly, as a kid, it was a let-down holiday, bc we were already back at school and there weren't many traditions to make the holiday interesting.

In Mexico, on the other hand, January 6 is a kids' day. The kids normally have vacation from Dec. 12 (guadalupe day) until Jan. 6 (kings' day) which provides a really long time off of school.

Also, Kings' day is when kids get presents. They don't put stockings on fireplaces (well, some people do now, bc they have seen it in U.S. images, but normally they don't have fireplaces as much as open fire pits or wooden cooking stoves, which isn't as charming). Instead, kids put their shoes outside their doors with grass or hay in them. Then, the "camels" that carry the 3 kings to visit Jesus will stop by and eat the grass or hay. In exchange for helping their camels, the rich kings will leave candy or small gifts in the shoes for the kids.
This has morphed into a huge gift-giving holiday for kids, when they get lots of presents from their parents and grandparents.

Adults are not left out of the fun. Although adults rarely exchange presents (sometimes with their spouse or significant other, in richer families, but most families have enough trouble finding enough money for fancy dinner and kids' presents), they have a "rosca de los reyes" dessert tradition. The adults share a huge sweet bread shaped in a circle and decorated with red and green dried fruit strips - it's supposed to look like a Christmas wreath. Inside of this cake is at least one small plastic baby Jesus.
I do not joke.
Whomever gets the baby Jesus in his or her portion has to host a party on "candlemas day" otherwise known as Tamale Day. I'll write more about that in February, but if you're dying to know, check out http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/CUSTOMS/year/february.htm.
I'd love to do the rosca tradition in the U.S. but Dave pointed out that if only one American chokes on the Jesus, the situation would be very negative PR for both Christianity and Mexico. Not to mention that we'd be sued by someone.