the wise men

This is a bit late but yesterday was the Feast of Epiphany which is known as El Dia de los Tres Reyes Magos (Three Kings Day) in much of the Spanish-speaking world and recalls the Biblical account of the Wise Men visiting the baby Christ and leaving gifts. (So logically, this would be the main gift-giving day instead of December 25)

I recently found out that in Chile and certain other countries, the day is also called La Pascua de los Negros. Some say the name is a reference to the idea that one of Wise Men was a black African.

But others say:

Es interesante notar que, en tiempo de la colonización española, especialmente en Cuba y Puerto Rico, este día era de asueto para los esclavos negros que salían a las calles a bailar al ritmo de sus tamboras. Esto origina el nombre de Pascua de los Negros con que el día es aún conocido en algunos países.

The period from December 26 (Boxing Day) to January 6 is also the origin of the 12 days of Christmas.

The Quran does contain a birth narrative of Jesus but doesn't mention the Wise Men. (Although, in 22:17 Magians are mentioned but not in reference to the birth of Christ). As far as I know, no authoritative Muslim accounts (i.e. Quran and sunnah) of the birth of Jesus include the Wise Men. But I wouldn't rule out the possibility that there is some obscure narration or a syncretic legend in the Muslim world which includes them... After all, if Muslims in Senegal celebrated Christmas this year then anything is possible. (I wonder if Christians in Senegal will be celebrating Eid? Just this morning I was hearing on NPR how African Christians were incorporating traditional African pracitices in the churches and they mentioned animal sacrifices)

Nevertheless, I would still argue that the story of the Wise Men suggests a different kind of similarity between Islam and Christianity.

Matthew 2:1-2

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

According to some, the three wise men symbolically correspond to Noah's three sons and represent all the people of the earth coming to pay their respects to Christ. (And so one is African, another Oriental, another European) But in other interpretations, the "Wise Men from the east" came from Persia and were likely to be Zoroastrian. In any case, if you take the Bible literally, they were Gentiles who had their own system of belief but were still able to correctly predict the birth of the Messiah. And so, in this way, the Bible is recognizing the validity of a pre-Christian non-Jewish religion. And so an argument can be made that from a Christian perspective, Zoroastrians (or whatever group the Wise Men belonged to) are People of the Book. (Allahu alim)