By Emily Devi Ramkishun
Correspondent
The Mexican Student Association (MEXSA) hosted its first spring semester event, Año Nuevo y Tres Reyes Celebración, on Feb. 2 at 8:30 p.m. in Roscoe West.
“MEXSA is an organization that represents our culture and shows the history,” said Arely Martinez, a freshman double major in early childhood education and math and co-freshman representative.
Día de Los Reyes, known as Three Kings Day, is celebrated 12 days after Christmas on Jan. 6. The holiday represents the day the Tres Reyes Magos gave gifts to Jesus Christ and closes the Christmas festivities. Many families exchange gifts on this day.
“Today I learned the technical terms because I didn’t grow up around that,” said Emily Garcia, a senior psychology major and president of Union Latina. “Because I am Salvadorian, I learned it in a different way. It differs by country and culture.”
On this day, Mexicans serve Rosca de Reyes, also known as King’s cake. ‘Rosca’ means wreath and ‘Reyes’ means king. The Rosca is an oval shape to symbolize a crown and has a small doll inside representing baby Jesus.
The baby doll symbolizes the time in which Jesus remained hidden when King Herod ordered him to persecute him. The members of MEXSA hid little baby dolls underneath the seats of those who attended.
Traditionally, after the baby doll is found, that person has to take care of him until Feb. 2. Dia de la Candelaria, and they must host a party where they make tamales, a traditional food. The students who found the baby dolls during the event had to do tongue twisters in Spanish instead of making tamales.
“[I] learned a little bit more about the primarily Mexican tradition of Rosca de Reyes, as well as Spanish tongue twisters,” said Melanie De Leon, a sophomore interactive multimedia major. “As a Hispanic/Latino at the College, I feel that ethnic clubs like MEXSA help bring the Latino community together.”
MEXSA was created in the spring of 2022, and this is their first year being fully recognized with access to the Student Associations Funding (SAF). Every meeting has about 60-80 members and there is no application process in order to join. There are biweekly meetings, Loteria, also known as bingo nights, and other holiday events.
“It’s easy to feel left out when you don’t see people who look like you, but coming to an environment where you see that representation and you're around people who understand you in a different sense,” Garcia said. “I feel that's really important, 'cause then you feel like, okay I made a good decision [coming to the College].”
Follow @tcnjmexsa on Instagram to become a part of the community.
