The Many Kisses of Baby Jesus

Bajada de Reyes is a celebration of the day the three kings arrived in Bethlehem to see baby Jesus. In Perú, it's celebrated on January 6th and represents the end of Christmas festivities when you start to take all the decorations down. That afternoon my site mate, Amanda, texted me to let me know that we had a meeting with one of our counterparts in the evening. When I asked her what the meeting was about, she replied, "Can't even explain. It involves wearing a costume..." Needless to say, I was a little worried.

When we arrived in the plaza that night we were given sombreros, vests and tambourines and for the next few hours we followed an adorable group of singing children in shiny, red and golden robes. We went into houses, restaurants and tiendas with large and intricate nativity scenes and sang [super catchy] Christmas songs complete with coordinated hand motions. 

Amanda, me and an elaborate nativity scene
Each time, the baby Jesus was brought around and we all kissed him on the head. I kissed so many baby Jesuses on the head that night and, as Amanda said, it was the most action either of us had seen in months. 

Baby Jesus, the ladies' man
The next night we were called again to help out in a much larger performance in the Plaza de Armas. By this time we had our tambourine routine down and were feeling pretty profesh. Once again we donned our sombreros and hats and sang to a crowd in front of the plaza's giant nativity scene. As we sang, members of the community took figures down from the scene and placed them together to wait for next year. 


The celebration of the coming of the kings was, by far, my favorite Peruvian tradition I've experienced so far. I still have months of other traditions to experience but I look forward to putting on my sombrero and vest and picking up that tambourine for the next Bajada de Reyes.

Bajada de Reyes, 2013!

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