Their Majesties the Three Wise Men of the East need one last stop on their route through the Marina Alta before leaving again until next year. It is in El Verger, that throughout the morning of Three Kings Day, Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar will be visiting each street and each house in the municipality on horseback to deliver the gifts that they have been lovingly preparing so many months ago for their neighbors. .
Each town in the region plans the arrival of Their Majesties in its own way, always in a special way and well thought out in detail. But this year, one of the great groups of royal pages and assistants of the Three Wise Men has reached its 60th anniversary.
The beginnings of the Reis del Verger Commission
It has been 60 years of tireless work to bring every January 5 and 6 the magic and excitement that surrounds these days to young and old. And it is that, the history of the Commission of Reis del Verger It dates back to the 50s, you could even say the 40s, when the festive people organized the first distribution of gifts around the town.
A few years later, the responsibility for organizing the Three Kings' Day events in El Verger passed to the newly created Jupa Club. This association, created by the priest of the time, Don Francisco Pons, brought together the youngest people of the municipality who were part of the parish groups Las Hijas de María and Los Hijos de San Luis. The germ of the Comi was sown and it was when it separated from the activity of the parish that it began its long journey to the present day.
An intensely selfless job
In order for the party to be a true success, the soul of the Comissió de Reis is divided into three parts before the arrival of Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar. One is in charge of organizing and planning the great parade of Her Majesties. Another prepares to the millimeter the living nativity scene that will welcome them once the route through the streets of the municipality is finished. And the third, the most secretive of all, focuses all her efforts on making the distribution of gifts a success.
The road has not been easy. That everything goes perfectly to receive the Three Wise Men with the same enthusiasm every year and that, in addition, they distribute their gifts to each vergerí and vergerina requires enormous organization and planning. Precisely this small, but great detail is what makes the party in El Verger so special, since the work of the Comi does not end with the parade on January 5.
During the night, when the boys and girls of Verger sleep in a hurry to wake up the next morning, the Three Wise Men silently go to the warehouse where their royal pages carefully store all the presents. And it is the Commission that coordinates them all so that the trucks leave full to capacity every Three Kings Day.
To do this, they have a novel and personalized computer system that divides the final destination of Their Majesties' gift by streets and houses. It is not absent of failures, but it has been a great advance since the mid-90s so that the Kings do not fail on the course.
Over the years El Verger has grown, it now has about 5.160 inhabitants, and with it the number of packages that arrive at homes. In 2019, the number of gifts to be delivered exceeded the figure of 4.000 and, although with the pandemic the number decreased again, it is expected that in 2024 they will cross the threshold again.
A big family
If you ask Sandra Aguilar, a member of the renewed board of the Comissió de Reis, she will tell you that the most difficult thing about the group is coordinating so many events in such a short time. Normal, they don't stop. But if the experience of being part of the association is worth it, it is to see the effort rewarded with the excited looks and nervous smiles of all the neighbors who wait impatiently for the Three Wise Men to recite their name.
As in any big family, problems always arise, but if the Comi has learned anything after so many years, it is to restart the magic that lives in each of them with every stumble. About 50 people are part of the organization, to which the fifth and pre-fifth members of the Verger are added each season to considerably multiply the hands that help the Kings.
This is how they make the party something long awaited by each and every one of the neighbors. And this is how they will manage to keep one of the oldest and most exciting traditions of Verger alive for 60 more years.
Happy king's day!
