Members of the Puerto Rican Coalition for a Better Community...

Members of the Puerto Rican Coalition for a Better Community dress as Los Tres Reyes in a past Three Kings Day celebration on Long Island. Credit: Latina Moms of Long Island

Families can celebrate Three Kings Day — including a visit from Los Tres Reyes — from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday at the Knights of Columbus in Brentwood.

“Three Kings Day is a very popular tradition in many Latino cultures. It’s like an extension of Christmas,” says Dorothy Santana of North Babylon, founder of Latina Moms of Long Island, which is collaborating on the event with the Puerto Rican Coalition for a Better Community.

The Jan. 6 holiday commemorates the arrival of the three kings who followed the star to visit the newborn Jesus. In Puerto Rico, for instance, children collect hay or grass and put it in a shoe box under their bed along with a cup of water on the night before Three Kings Day, as a treat for the Three Kings’ camels, Santana says. In exchange, they are left a small gift.

The free celebration will include a children’s dance depicting the nativity, the arrival of the three kings, and gifts for children through tweens. Children’s author Adriana Devers will read from her bilingual children’s book “Mi Chiquitica en Luna Llena My Little One in Full Moon.” The Teatro Experimental Yerbabruja is also collaborating on the celebration.

No advance registration necessary; the Knights of Columbus is at 96 Second Ave. in Brentwood. For more information, visit puertoricancoalition.org or call 631-575-7505.

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