A THREE Kings parade in a Madrid neighbourhood had to be stalled midway through after the Magi ran out of sweets, according to the local fiesta committee.
Most Three Kings processions take place on the night of January 5, and children open presents delivered to them by Balthasar, Melchior and Casper, but the district of Ciudad Lineal in the Spanish capital brought its own parade forward to Thursday evening.
They had to stop at 19.30 when they realised every last sweet in the floats had been snapped up, and that hundreds of children were still waiting for theirs.
Crowds had to hang around until gone 20.00 while the fiesta committee rushed around trying to load up the sugar content in the floats again.
Several parents complained at the long wait and the Magi's 'lack of planning'.
A total of six tonnes of sweets had been ordered for the parade – a 50% increase on last year's four tonnes – but it still turned out to be far short of the amount needed to satisfy all the children watching.
Photograph by the district fiesta committee (Junta Municipal de Distrito)
