On January 4, we attended Dia de los Reyes (Three Kings Day) at the Atlanta History Center. This annual event is sponsored by the Mexican Consulate and the Insituto de Mexico.

 

Besides the free admission to the museum and the grounds, a large celebration was held in the ballroom. Children were sporting royal crowns and they could get their picture taken with the three kings. There were live performances on the stage, as well as tamales for sale.

My favorite dance was the group of 7 or 8 boys who held canes and walked around the room. Each boy was shorter than the one before and they wore masks and straw hats. On their second lap around the room, they each shook hands with the ladies.

 

Other traditional dances followed.

 

 

For just $1, a large slice of king cake could be purchased. It wasn’t the traditional king cake that I’m used to. It was less of a pastry and more of a sweet bread – almost like Hawaiian bread with a few candied pieces on top. 

Even Home Depot had a table where kids could build a wooden toy.

 

We walked around the museum and enjoyed the temporary exhibit called American Sabor: Latinos in Popular US Music. It was divided into five primary sections of the United States: Los Angelos, San Francisco, San Antonio, New York and Miami and discussed the music and artists that came from those regions.I always knew that Richie Valens,Gloria Estefan and Los Lobos were Latino, but I had no clue about Joan Baez and Freddie Fender. The exhibit mentioned some of the early trailblazers like Tito Puente and Ricky Ricardo. I found it interesting.

My husband toured another special exhibit on Confederate artifacts from the George W. Wray Jr. collection. Additonally, we walked the grounds outside and popped into McElreath Hall for an exhibit on Wilbur G. Kurtz, who was the official historian during the making of the movie, “Gone With the Wind.”

 

For more information, visit the website at http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/program/three-kings-day-dia-de-los-reyes. To learn more about the American Sabor: Latinos in Popular US Music, visit https://americansabor.org/.