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Esta página no está disponible en español. New York Daily News3 Kings Share 1 Big Parade 150,000 Expected In WilliamsburgBy LUIS PEREZ
December 26, 2002 Christmas in the city may be just wrapping up, but the spirit of giving returns Jan. 5 with the sixth annual Williamsburg Three Kings Day Parade. This year's parade, which promoters are billing as the largest of its kind in the city, brings together 30 schools, dozens of churches and community groups, 15 huge floats and 150,000 spectators, organizers say. "We have grown enormously over the last six years - we are really bigger than the Manhattan Three Kings Parade at this point," said Radames Millan, founder and president of the Brooklyn parade. The other major parade, in East Harlem, a creation of the Museo del Barrio, is in its 26th year. Three Kings Day, long celebrated in Latin America, is based on the biblical story of the Three Kings (or Wise Men or Magi) who followed the star of Bethlehem from Africa, Asia and the Middle East to bring gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the Baby Jesus. It is celebrated by reenactments of the journey - and is marked by giving gifts to poor children. Paradegoers will brave the January chill dressed as angels, monks, shepherds, queens, camels, horses and sheep - and, of course, the Three Kings. The parade begins under the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway at Meeker and Graham Aves. and proceeds to Debevoise Ave. "We try to do as much as we can to get back to that moment when the Baby Jesus was born," said Millan, who remembers celebrating Three Kings Day in his native Puerto Rico and now has the help of his son, Jesse, a co-organizer. "We try to teach people here in New York that these traditions keep alive." "It's a very important holiday for us," said Gregoria Diaz, 65, a co-organizer for four years. "For me, it's like going back to Puerto Rico." At the end of the parade, about 1,500 toys donated by community groups will be distributed. Salsa godfather Salsa sensation Jerry Rivera will be the godfather of this year's parade, joining community activists Juan DeMartinez and Adelaide Miranda, who serve as marshals. Last year's parade was dedicated to the police officers and firefighters killed in the World Trade Center attacks. For more information, or to get tickets to receive gifts, call (718) 782-8753 by tomorrow.
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