An ancient institution of the Royal Court of Navarre, in which on the day of Epiphany a poor child was crowned and presented and entertained by the kings as if he were a monarch. The origin of this courtly and also popular festival dates back to the reign of the House of Champagne, which brought - through Theobald I (1234-1253) - the customs and refinements of the Court of France. This tradition seems to be a Christian version of a similar institution that was celebrated in ancient Rome during the celebration of the festivities in honor of the god Saturn and the same one that during the French Revolution, was d "anti-revolutionary." On Three Kings' Day, wherever the king and the Court met, usually at the Alcázar of Olite, a group of poor children, usually sons of palace servants, would gather and be given a cake containing a bean inside, hence the name of the festival. The child who found the bean in their piece of cake was the lucky one. They were richly dressed and solemnly crowned—in a ceremony similar to the true enthronement of the Navarrese sovereigns—as "King of the Faba." The young man's day was spent a banquet and a large number of court festivities, during which the boy spent the entire day mingling with the notables of the kingdom and the king and queen themselves, at the end of which he received gifts and money from the monarchs. This festival, which is recorded as having been attended by the entire Court and even by foreign representatives in Navarre at the time, was a charitable and pagan institution, a means of entertainment for the knights and court magnates. The "King of the Faba" was celebrated—in addition to Olite—in the most important cities of the Kingdom: in Pamplona (1439), in Sangassa (1413), in Tafalla (1424), in Estella (1381), in Tudela (1423), and its name also changed over time. In a document from 1381, it is referred to as "the Little King." It ceased to be practiced when Navarre passed to the Crown of Castile and was buried among the illustrious stones of Olite until 1964 when it was restored by the Mutiko Alaiak Society. Today it is held alternately in different places where the Court of Navarre resided. Alberto Xabier MART NEZ ARTOLA