Notes from the Season: The Selvedge Team – Lauren Meta Martin, Online Editor

A Waiting for the Kings, Barcelona

Our second Christmas in Barcelona arrived mid-stride, already in motion. Early in December, we moved into a new home, DIY jobs clattering around us, boxes half-opened and cupboards in a nonsensical state of disarray. Christmas dinner plates were replaced by paper ones, decorated carefully by small hands; the ceramics and tablecloths stayed boxed, waiting for another moment. It was a Christmas pared back and without expectation, yet somehow more extravagant — not in things, but in togetherness.

We marked Christmas Day with a full house and an easy, overlapping mix of traditions. Family arrived from the UK, carrying with them Spanish, British, Czech and Argentinian roots. Meals stretched on, conversations braided themselves across languages, and familiar rituals made room for new ones. Even amid our unorganised chaos, Christmas Day in Barcelona felt like a welcome pause.

Perhaps it was just as well, since across Spain it is now that the real festive anticipation begins. Move aside Father Christmas, and make way for Los Reyes Magos — the Three Kings.

Three Magi in Parthian Dress, mosaic in Basilica Sant' Apollinare Nuovo Ravenna, 6th century CE, Almut Hintze

In the days before their arrival in Barcelona on 5 January, letters containing carefully considered gift requests are written with great seriousness and sent to the royal pages, who (so the children are told) pass them on to Their Majesties themselves. Then, with a flourish befitting their status, Their Highnesses Melchior, Gaspar and Balthasar arrive by sea on the evening of 5 January, docking at Port Vell aboard the schooner Santa Eulàlia. There, the Mayor welcomes them with the key to the city before the grand parade begins.

Los Reyes Magos arriving into Barcelona on board the Santa Eulàlia, 2024. Photo credit: Laura Fíguls

As they disembark with dramatic poise and stride elegantly across Barcelona's iconic panots de flor (flower tiles), their crowns catch the city lights. Their robes are richly saturated, the colour holding depth and weight as the fabric swishes in faux regality, before they mount their decorated carriages. Gold features prominently, as tradition demands, catching and scattering the light as it passes. Capes fall in generous folds; fake fur-trimmed cloaks brush against contrasting panels dense with bright shimmering patterns, all moving together with dramatically and intended grandeur.

Cavalcada de Reis. Photo Credit: Explora Barcelona

The Cavalcada de Reis is then ready to move through Barcelona. By this point, the city is filled to bursting. Music swells, theatrical acrobatics lead the procession, and children press forward in eager anticipation. The parade itself is an extraordinary act of collective making: hundreds of performers, artists, choreographers and designers, with new costumes and scenic elements created each year with dedication as a unique artistic production. Craft, spectacle and storytelling meet in the open air.

For our two small children, this is the moment the year tips. Sweets are thrown into the crowd, sudden arcs of colour flying overhead, and the air is charged with sugar-coated laughter and expectation. Eyes widen, arms stretch out, and pockets fill with a treasure of candy jewels. And for us grown-ups, there is something too — not only is it enormous fun, but it feels like a final release into the New Year. Joy, made tangible.

The arrival of the Kings marks the true turning of the year here. It's a final celebration before everyday life settles back in. Experiencing it, we are learning to hold two traditions at once. We keep space for mince pies and familiar songs, and we welcome the traditions of our new home too, finding belonging in how they unfold together: shared and celebrated as one.

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Image Credits:

Lead Image: Lauren Meta-Martin by Alun Callender

All further images as credited in photo captions.