I was reading a post of my blogger friend and also adoptive mom Silvana (in Spanish) that made me remember things I saw when I was living in Spain.
In that country, as well as in many Spanish speaking countries, there is an important holiday called “Dia de los Tres Reyes Magos” that celebrates the Three Wise Men or Three Kings, bringing gifts for Jesus after he was born. In Christian tradition this is known as Epiphany.
This day is celebrated by bringing gifts to the children during the night on January 6th. In many parts of Spain there are also parades in which the men dressed as the Three Wise Men riding on horses and camels give candies to the children and pick up the letters with their whishes (Cabalgata de los Reyes Magos) similar to what here in the US is writing a letter to Santa.
According to the tradition, the Three Kings come from the East and their names are Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar, being the last one of African origins, probably from Ethiopia, and of course black. 
This parade has been going on for years and one of the most shocking things is that usually the black king is represented by a white man in blackface.
It’s kind of hard to believe that there are still people who doesn’t know that a white man with his face painted in black is one of the most insulting and racist things for black people (and non black people too). It’s also hard to believe that there are no black men in Spain that can play the role of Balthazar. I’m not against this tradition, but I find this way of representing it quite disgusting and a form of perpetuating a racist stereotype.
For those who don’t know anything about it, this way of representing black people is called minstrel. It was a form of entertainment during the 19th century in which a group of white actors played the part of black men painted in blackface for the enjoyment of the also white crowd. Black people were portrayed as lazy, 
superstitious, coward, and lascivious. Over time, this kind of “entertainment” ended but we still see nowadays, episodes of blackface in the news.
Usually white people tend to dismiss the importance of blackface by saying that it’s just for fun without the intention to offend anyone.
But the fact is that blackface IS offensive and it should stop, no matter how innocent might seem to white people.
It’s also hurting black children that live in these mainly white communities. What might they be thinking or feeling while witnessing this parade?
 Black Like You: Blackface, Whiteface, Insult & Imitation in American Popular Culture (book) by John Strausbaugh |
 Bamboozled (DVD) Directed by Spike Lee |
A few recent episodes of Blackface in the news:
Blackface incident continues to cause consternation for some in community
Incident spurs blackface discussion
‘America’s Next Top Model’ Puts Models In Blackface
French Vogue Shoots Lara Stone in Blackface for This Month’s Supermodel Issue
AliciA
6 users commented in " King Balthazar and Blackface "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackBuen dia Alicia.
Muy bueno el post, gracias por desasnarme un poco mas.
Espero que ya se encuentren todos muy bien de salud.
Saludos!
Laura
Así han sido y son las tradiciones, lentas en poder cambiarlas. Poco a poco se van incorporando los Baltazares (africanos o latinoamericanos negros)a las cabalgatas, debido a las realidades migratorias y las relaciones humanas. Pero todavía hay pueblos en los que no es fácil que se pueda dar esa posibilidad. Salud para el Año Nuevo.
When I was a child, Baltasar was always a white man in blackface. But it wasn’t ofensive, it was just because there weren’t any black men living in my town. Since the great inmigration began, a decade ago or so, people started complaining (white people I mean) because it became very funny to see that when all around us there were black people around us. Politians fortunately listened, and since 2000 or so, Baltasar is a really black man.
But I would like to say a thing. Those parades, at least here, are organised by people from asociations who work all year for this parade and other activities (solidarity mainly). One of the pictures you hang is showing Baltasar’s “pajes”. They are usually pleople from those asociations who are carrying the hard work of the parade. And the integration hasn’t improved yet to get black people involved in such asociations. So white people has no other option than getting in blackface to help King Balthasar during the parade.
Big hugh.
I think my son is the first and will probably be the only black Balthazar his kindergarten has ever seen (small town, Italy). At least his teachers had the good sense not to blackface the child who played Balthazar the previous year.
Gloria,
I know that this subject is controversial and sometimes it’s hard for white people to understand how offensive blackface is for black people. I’m just reflecting the feelings of the black people community who most of the time is not taken into account when doing these kind of public showings. If there are no black men in the place where a parade takes place, white people simply must not paint their faces black and just do the parade in their natural color. No matter how good intentions these white people have, still they are insulting other human beings by painting their faces.
Let’s pay attention to what black people have to say about this subject and learn to respect their opinion.
I hope people will listen…
Regards, AliciA
Alicia , como siempre tus post me enriquecen, ya te contaré que pasa este año en las cabalgatas , y si Baltasar es un blackface , estoy dandole vueltas y vueltas a la respuesta que le daré a mis soles cuando me pregunten por qué Baltasar esá pintado?? y las que se me ocurren no son muy infantiles que digamos … ayyy amiga mía … cuanto tenemos que aprender !!!.
Que belleza las fotos que pusiste de los nenes , que lindos que están , que alegría verlos !
Un beso muy muy grande para los cinco !
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