• Submitted by: manso
• Society
• 01 / 10 / 2011

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BY DANIEL SHOER ROTH. [email protected]. For tens of thousands of South Floridians who attended the Three Kings Parade Sunday on Calle Ocho, it was a day full of colorful floats, school bands, huge inflatable dummies and the opportunity to see their politicians and favorite telenovela stars.

But for Yuliseki Hernández, who moved from Cuba three months ago, it was a day of discovery. At age 27, he saw a camel for the first time, as well as floats decorated with precious details and a gigantic inflatable Mickey Mouse. He was surprised

by the orderliness. He couldn't understand how people managed to stay behind the barriers, never stepping into the street.

``Look, those are the Three Kings, Melchior, Caspar and Balthasar,'' Nora Castelló, a friend of the family who had brought him to the parade, told him as they watched the three actors playing the Three Wise Men who, according to the Gospel, worshiped the baby Jesus with offerings of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

``I had never seen anything like this in my life, so beautiful and with so much joy,'' said Hernández, who also saw fireworks for the first time on New Year's Eve.

This family-oriented event organized by Univisión Radio not only was a distant world from the one Hernández had known in Cuba, but was also different from the first Three Kings parade celebrated in Miami in 1971, when camels were not available in the city and organizers had to settle for plastic dummies that kept deflating on the street.

The parade was founded in response to the Cuban government's elimination that year of the celebration of Christmas.

Since then, local officials follow the figures of the Three Kings. On Sunday, most of the politicians rode in convertibles, waving to the crowd like movie stars.

Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado rode atop an antique red city of Miami firetruck with his family, followed by a black convertible carrying Police Chief Miguel Exposito and his wife. The two men, locked in a political showdown, were both smiling. Later, the crowd cheered Marco Rubio, the newly elected U.S. senator from Florida, who was accompanied by his wife and children.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez was not there, but a small banner plane flew across the the clear sky, towing a sign that read, ``Out with Carlos Alvarez. Enough misspending.''

The only politician who did not ride in a convertible but walked from Southwest Fourth Street to 17th Avenue was U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, who said hello to all those who extended their hands.

``That's why people always vote for her,'' said Lázaro Rojas, owner of a towing company. ``Other politicians go by in their convertibles waving from afar. The parade is for walking.''

Mayra Leite, 28, took her children -- Emily, 11; Scarlet, 7; and Jayden, 3 -- to the parade for the first time to ensure that they, who were born in the United States like her, will never lose their heritage.

Emily asked her mother Friday why they hadn't put away their Christmas decorations. Leite responded that Hispanics wait for Three Kings Day. She didn't know how best to explain the meaning of the celebration, and hoped that taking them to the cheerful parade would help them understand it better.

``I see everybody sharing with their families,'' said Emily, a fifth-grade student at Palm Lakes Elementary School in Hialeah.

Mireya Gómez, 64, was among the joyous onlookers. She excitedly cheered even when politicians she didn't know rode by past.

She arrived from Cuba five years ago and, like Hernández, couldn't imagine anything like the parade.

``I feel like a 12-year-old girl,'' Gómez said. ``Today is the happiest day of my life.''

Source: www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/09/2008193/