A Neighborhood Celebration: Dia de los Reyes
On January 6, the Mamas de Maple brought the neighborhood together to celebrate Dia de los Reyes, welcoming their neighbors into their vibrant community and culture. It was a day of joy, as neighbors came to the tables Martha San Elias had set up outside of the Maple Community Center to see each other, pick up donated groceries, and grab a slice of Rosca de Reyes.
Dia de los Reyes has a significant meaning to Latino culture— a celebration of the three kings who visited Jesus as a baby, it is a day of gift-giving and is celebrated with a special treat, Rosca de Reyes. This circular cake represents Jesus’ crown, and somewhere baked into the cake is a little plastic baby Jesus. Whoever gets this figurine must make dinner for the next celebration in February! The Mamas de Maple celebration captured all the joy of the holiday, from neighbors laughing about who may get the plastic baby, to welcoming any and all who happened to walk or drive by.
Their table was open, and they wanted to share.
Dia de los Reyes is just one of the many holidays the Mamas de Maple celebrate as a neighborhood. While these celebrations look different during the COVID pandemic, the Mamas de Maple know that they must find ways to keep the community engaged and together in a COVID-safe way. Martha, who organizes the Mamas and has worked with Solidarity in the neighborhood for many years, loves these events because they bring life to the community, something especially needed as COVID hits deeply in under-resourced neighborhoods such as these. The barriers of food and financial insecurity and education inequity have been exacerbated by the pandemic, and these events are a way to build the neighbors up, whether that be through meeting practical food distribution needs or simply experiencing communal joy and tradition in the face of hardship.
Looking toward the future, Martha has big plans for both the Maple and Garnet neighborhoods. She hopes to expand the Mamas group into Garnet, and launch adult education classes in both areas, equipping the parents in the neighborhood with skills like computer fluency, parenting, and finance. Skills like these will allow our neighbors to step into places of higher influence and speak with louder voices. These neighborhoods are full of leaders, thinkers, and mobilizers, and providing opportunities for community growth and education will combat a number of the barriers that keep them from flourishing. By equipping more leaders such as Martha and allowing their collective voice to contribute to the betterment of the city, the stage is set for full growth and transformation.