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“Drie Koningen:” An unusual European
Christmas tradition
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[December 09, 2024]
Not until 1968, did I experience my first real
Christmas. It was with the family of my first wife, Marie. We had
been married on December 21, 1968, and that Christmas I celebrated
Christmas at her parents’ home for the first time. I was 20 years
old.
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that I had not experienced the full pageantry and lore of Christmas
as celebrated in America. Neither of my parents had grown up in a
home where Christmas was celebrated and so they did not have
Christmas traditions to pass on to us three kids.
The only remotely related “tradition” that I can actually remember
from my childhood, growing up in Belgium, was “Drie Koningen”
(“Three Kings”). Church history also refers to this festival as
“Epiphany” (the “Revealing” in the flesh of the Son of God).
Belgium celebrates Drie Koningen every year on January 6. It
commemorates the incarnation of Jesus by focusing on the coming of
“wisemen” from the East (considered to be “kings” in the story).
Tradition says there were three of these “magi” and that they are
named Melchior, Caspar, and Balthasar. This number probably
originates in the number of presents Jesus is said to have been
presented. As early as the second century (seen in the church father
Clement of Alexandria), the Eastern Church began to focus on January
6 as a good time to celebrate Christ’s birth and life.
Some of these early Christians used January 6 to commemorate Jesus’
baptism and that may explain why January 6 has often been associated
with the baptizing of infants.
Related also is the custom of the priest praying over “holy water,”
located at the entrance of Roman Catholic churches. When entering
the church, a devout Roman Catholic dips the fingers of the right
hand in this consecrated water and blesses him or herself with the
sign of the cross.
Because in the West (Rome) the incarnation from the
beginning was celebrated on December 25, the celebration on January
6, originating from the Church in the East, remained a marginal
event in the West.
According to the New Testament story these ‘Magi” were guided to
Bethlehem by a star (Matt 2:1-18). So, they were probably not so
much “kings” as astronomers or better yet astrologers.
It is speculated that behind this story of eastern visitors coming
to worship in Israel is a prophecy in Numbers 24:17 where God
promises a “star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of
Israel.” Also proposed as Old Testament sources are Isaiah 63:3
(kings will come to Israel) and Psalm 72:10 (kings from far away
will come).
In the early Middle Ages this memorable story of three royal
visitors became the basis for a Christmas stage pantomime that was
performed on stage in most churches on January 6, right before the
serving of the mass.
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Also, following the Crusades to the Holy Land,
alleged bones of the three kings were brought as relics to Europe.
As a result, Cologne in Germany, where the relics finally wound up,
had become an important destination for pilgrims to visit (and now
for tourists).
I remember when I was growing up in Belgium seeing
children on January 6, dressed in sheets with scarves on their heads
(representing some kind of “crown”), going from house to house
asking for candy or some other handout. They would have a stick or a
broom upon which they had nailed a star (made of wood or paper).
They would sing a song that explained that they had come from afar
and were in dire need of a new hat--and didn’t want their mother to
know the old hat had worn out. This song is still being sung today:
“Drie koningen, drie koningen, geef mij een nieuwe hoed.” Anyone
interested in this strange tradition can find it on YouTube. Just
look for “Drie koningen, drie koningen” (sluipschutters drie
koningen)!
Funny how Bible stories, over the years, have become part of today’s
Christmas traditions!
[John Castelein]
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