I got this picture from a calendar in my daughter's home and it represents today, The Day of the Kings, which marks the end of the Christmas season. American culture is creeping into Mexico and I saw several plastic Walmart Santas, snowmen, and reindeer outside homes and businesses. Traditionally, Christmas gift giving is on January 6th with the three wise men as the benefactors, but the holiday is not as religious as the Orthodox Christian Epiphany celebrations also happening around the world today.
I sat in Stephanie's late afternoon English classes in San Pedro the last two days. Yesterday I interacted with the students for 20 minutes or so, asking and answering questions in conversational English. They were a very bright group ranging in age from 12 to about 30 years old.
At the end of the class, we shared a traditional treat, the 'Rosca de Reyes' (King's Cake). Shaped like a king's crown, this sweet yeast bread has a small plastic figurine representing the baby Jesus inside. The students told me the person who gets the figure has to make tamales for the special dinner.
I didn't get the surprise which is a good thing as tamales are very time consuming to make. Stephanie is baking a fresh Rosca de Reyes today (recipe here) and it will taste much better than the one from the store. And we had a delicious tamale meal in Tepic last week that will count for the celebration today.
I am caught up. I have also watched the killing of chickens. I was not enthused by the process. I think they were old, and the cook refused to cook them.
ReplyDeleteOh how I love tamales.
ReplyDeleteSeveral years ago, we happened to be in Madrid for Three Kings Day--what a festival, complete with a huge parade. Clearly that day eclipsed Christmas.
ReplyDelete