Mexico Cooks!

Los Reyes Magos to La Candelaria: Cake and Tamales!

 

Most Mexicans eat traditional rosca de reyes (Three Kings' Bread) on January 6.  Its usual accompaniment is chocolate caliente (hot chocolate).

Every January 6, the Feast of the Three Kings, Mexican families enjoy a rosca de reyes.  The size of the family's rosca varies according to the size of the family, but everybody gets a slice, from the littlest toddler to great-grandpa.  Accompanied by a cup of chocolate caliente (hot chocolate), it's a great winter treat.

On January 6, 2009, Paty Vallejo, wife of Morelia's mayor Fausto Vallejo, served a slice of the enormous rosca de reyes moreliana, prepared jointly by bakeries from everywhere in the city.

Here in Morelia, Michoacán, bakers prepared a monumental rosca for the whole city to share.  The rosca contained nearly 3000 pounds of flour, 1500 pounds of margerine, 10,500 eggs, 150 liters of milk, 35 pounds of yeast, 35 pounds of salt, 225 pounds of butter, 2000 pounds of dried fruits, and 90 pounds of orange peel.  The completed cake, if stretched out straight, measured 2000 kilometers in length!  Baked in sections, the gigantic rosca was the collaborative effort of every single bakery in the city.  For the twelfth year, the city government as well as grocery wholesalers joined together to see to it that the tradition of the rosca continues to be a vibrant custom.

The plastic niño (baby) baked into our rosca measured less than 2" tall.  The figures used to be made of porcelain, but now they are generally made of plastic.  See the tooth mark on the head?  Mexico Cooks! is the culprit.

Every rosca de reyes contains at least one niño; larger roscas can hold two, three, or more.  Morelia's giant rosca contained 10,000 of these 1 1/2" tall figures.  Tradition demands that the person who finds the niño in his or her slice of rosca is required to give a party on February 2, el Día de La Candelaria (Candlemas Day).  The party for La Candelaria calls for tamales, tamales, and their traditional companion, a rich atole flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, or chocolate.  Several years ago, an old friend, in the throes of a family economic emergency, was a guest at his relatives' Three Kings party.  He bit into the niño buried in his slice of rosca.  Embarrassed that he couldn't shoulder the expense of the following month's Candelaria party, he gulped--literally--and swallowed the niño.

El Día de La Candelaria celebrates the presentation of Jesus in the Jewish temple, forty days after his birth.  The traditions of La Candelaria encompass religious rituals of ancient Jews, of pre-hispanic rites indigenous to Mexico, of the Christian evangelization brought to Mexico by the Spanish, and of modern-day Catholicism. 

In Mexico, you'll find a Niño Dios of any size for your home nacimiento (Nativity scene).  Traditionally, the Niño Dios is passed down, along with his wardrobe of special clothing, from generation to generation in a single family.

The presentation of the child Jesus to the church is enormously important in Mexican Catholic life. February 2 marks the official end of the Christmas season, the day to put away the last of the holiday decorations.  On February 2, the figure of Jesus is gently lifted from the home nacimiento (manger scene, or creche), dressed in new clothing, carried to the church, where he receives blessings and prayers.  He  is then carried home and rocked to sleep with tender lullabies. 

Each family dresses its Niño Dios according to its personal beliefs and traditions.  Some figures are dressed in clothing representing a Catholic saint particularly venerated in a family; others are dressed in the clothing typically worn by the patron saints of different Mexican states.  Some favorites are the Santo Niño de Atocha, venerated especially in Zacatecas; the Niño de Salud (Michoacán), the Santo Niño Doctor (Puebla), and, in Xochimilco (suburban Mexico City), the Niñopa (alternately spelled Niñopan or Niño-Pa).

This Xochimilco arch and the highly decorated street welcome the much-loved Niñopan figure.

The veneration of Xochimilco's beloved Niñopan follows centuries-old traditions.  The figure has a different mayordomo every year; the mayordomo is the person in whose house the baby sleeps every night.  Although the Niñopan (his name is a contraction of the words Niño Padre or Niño Patrón) travels from house to house, visiting his chosen hosts, he always returns to the mayordomo's house to spend the night.  One resident put it this way: "When the day is beautiful and it's really hot, we take him out on the canals.  In his special chalupita (little boat), he floats around all the chinampas (floating islands), wearing his little straw hat so that the heat won't bother him.  Then we take him back to his mayordomo, who dresses our Niñopan in his little pajamas, sings him a lullaby, and puts him to sleep, saying, 'Get in your little bed, it's sleepy time!"  Even though the Niñopan is always put properly to bed, folks in Xochimilco believe that the Niñopan sneaks out of bed to play with his toys in the wee hours of the night.  

Trajineras (decorated boats) ready to receive tourists line the canals in Xochimilco.

Although he is venerated in many Xochimilco houses during the course of every year, his major feast day is January 6.  The annual celebration takes place in Xochimilco's church of St. Bernard of Sienna.  On the feast of the Candelaria, fireworks, music, and dancers accompany the Niñopan as he processes through the streets of Xochimilco on his way to his presentation in the church.

Gloria in Xochimilco with Niñopa, April 2008.  Photo courtesy Colibrí.

Blue papel picado (cut paper decoration) floating in the deep-blue Xochimilco sky wishes the Niñopan welcome and wishes all of us Feliz Navidad.

El Día de La Candelaria means a joyful party with lots of tamales, coupled with devotion to the Niño Dios.  For more about a tamalada (tamales-making party), look at this 2007 Mexico Cooks! article.

From the rosca de reyes on January 6 to the tamales on February 2, the old traditions continue in Mexico's 21st Century.

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Bazar Sábado, San Angel, Mexico City

Sun-and-shade dappled Plaza San Jacinto, Colonia San Ángel, in the southern part of Mexico City, hosts Bazar Sábado.

On the Saturday before Christmas, Mexico Cooks! was in Mexico City with some last-minute Christmas shopping to do.  The only place to go?  Bazar Sábado, the huge artisans' market held every week in gorgeous Colonia San Ángel in the southern sector of Mexico City.  The market includes both indoor and outdoor shops and booths.  What's to be had?  Just about anything! 

These tenangos (hand-embroidered textiles) are made in the state of Guerrero.  We also saw full-size table cloths, napkins, and place mats. We bought a dozen or two fabric coasters hand-embroidered with birds, fish, and flowers.

Napkin rings to match any decorator's color combination.

Crowds at Bazar Sábado tend to be large and shoppers are fairly aggressive.  Lots of tourists go: you'll hear Japanese, French, English, German, and a slew of other languages on the pathways of Plaza San Jacinto.  Be prepared to spend a little more money than you might in some other markets, but the atmosphere and the enormous selection of goods will give you great stories to tell back home.  Bazar Sábado is worth it!

Wooden boxes, the tops decorated with icons ranging from the sacred to the profane.  Frida Kahlo, Che Guevara, and Mexico's lucha libre (wrestling) stars are among the most popular secular images.

Children's toys made of wood.  A million years ago, Mexico Cooks! knew these toys as Jacob's ladders.  Remember the sound they make?  Click, clack, click, clack, click, clack--now turn it over and start again.

Woven straw soft baskets to match your napkin rings.  We loved them, although ultimately we decided not to buy them.  We have a lot of baskets already.

Mexico Cooks!' antique painted box from Olinalá, Guerrero may well have been sold originally at Bazar Sábado.  Booths there still sell similar examples--new, of course.

Mira, los títeres!  He's still young enough for the excitement of these simple fantasy-animal marionettes.

Maestro Enrique Segarra López, one of Mexico's most famous mid-20th Century photographers, holds court on Saturdays at his booth.  It was always a joy to spend some time with him.  He passed away a few years ago.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

 

Museo Casa/Estudio (House and Studio Museum) Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, Mexico City

On his bedroom floor, a tracing of the soles of Diego Rivera's large shoes invites the visitor to measure up. 

Mexico Cooks! felt their presence, but they were always just out of sight: behind us, in the next room, on the patio while we were upstairs, appearing and disappearing along the sidewalk in front of the cactus fence.  We heard the whisper of a silk dress brushing against a doorpost, caught the flash of a struck match, smelled a hint of something frying.  Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, their host of glamorous friends--Tina Modotti, Juan O'Gorman, María Félix, Pablo Neruda, Dolores del Río, Lázaro Cárdenas--they were all there, or had left just moments before we arrived.

Organ pipe cactus forms the fence along the public sidewalk.

Such is the powerfully evocative Museo Casa/Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo, designed and created in the early 1930's by the artists' friend, the up and coming architect and painter Juan O'Gorman.  Best known for the enormous mosaics that wrap around all four sides of the library at the Universidad Nacional Autónomo de México, it's said that O'Gorman tried to create an ugly house, but failed miserably.  O'Gorman designed these two houses to be a factory, a machine to live in joined by a bridge representing Rivera and Kahlo's passion: a machine for Rivera and Kahlo to create their own aesthetic world.  From 1932 until 1934, they lived here and solidified their reputations as two of Mexico's finest working artists.

Jars of paint powders and folk art fill the shelves along Rivera's studio walls.

When Diego Rivera died in 1957, his daughter, Ruth Rivera Marín, inherited the property.  She donated it to the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes.  In 1986, the museum opened its doors to the public.  It continues to show how Rivera and Kahlo lived: simply, passionately, intelligently.

A small collection of Diego Rivera's figuras de cartón (cardboard figures).  A few of his pre-Columbian clay figures line up in the green bookcase.

Both Rivera and Kahlo collected cardboard Judas figures.  More than 175 cardboard figures, including Judas, toritos (little bulls covered with fireworks), and piñatas, form part of the huge quantity of folk art that the artists loved.

Two towering Judas figures, each more than 12 feet high, loom over visitors from their corner in the living room.  The Judas figures generally look like devils and often are caricatures of people both famous and infamous.  In Mexico, they're burned during Semana Santa (Holy Week).

Frida Kahlo's house and studio.  The outside stairway, where she often sat in Mexico City's hot afternoon sunlight, leads to the roof and the bridge between her house and Rivera's.

Kahlo's painted "What the Water Told Me" in the bathtub of this house.  Filled with psychological symbolism, the painting represents her life's struggles.  She also painted "Las Dos Fridas" while living here.

Diego Rivera's bedroom.  The tiny room and narrow orthopedic bed seem nearly monastic when compared to the towering artist's flamboyant, larger-than-life persona.

Rivera's office.  The figure to the left on top of the bookcase is Frida Kahlo's death mask.

Museo Casa/Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo is at the corner of Altavista and Calle Diego Rivera (formerly Calle Palmas) in San Angel, one of Mexico City's finest old neighborhoods.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

 

Magia Navideña in Mexico City: Christmas Magic!

El Monumento a la Revolución, not far from Parque Alameda in Mexico City's Centro Histórico.

Mexico celebrates the Christmas season for nearly two months.  South of the border, Christmas lasts from December 16 (the start of the nine-day pre-Christmas posadas), blossoms into December 25, journeys on to the the Día de los Reyes Magos (Day of the Three Kings) on January 6, and ends on February 2 (the Feast of La Candelaria) with a fiesta featuring tamales, atole, and a ceremony at home in which the beloved Niño Dios is sung to and carefully tucked away until next season.

When Mexico Cooks! was in the Distrito Federal (Mexico's capital city) just before Christmas, we wanted to visit the enormous fiesta that takes place at the Monument to the Revolution.  Games, booths, food, children's rides, and the newest addition to Mexico's panoply of saints--Santa Claus!--were paradise for children and parents.  And of course Mexico Cooks!, the biggest kid on the block, had a blast.

Blancanieves (Snow White) and the Seven Dwarfs flank Santa himself in one of the many photographers' booths at the fiestas.

A Ferris wheel!  A carousel!  Lights!  Action!  The fiestas are especially fun in the evening when the crowds are out.  It's every child's idea of glory.

The many photographers' booths feature every cartoon character you know, all celebrating along with Santa and beckoning you to have your picture taken.  After all, it's Christmas!

A twinkly tiara and a pink butterfly painted on her face made this little beauty a princess for the night.

This Christmas Eve scene features only Santa and his reindeer. Santa Claus has proliferated all over Mexico, although on Christmas, many children receive just one gift from el Niño Dios.  If children receive other gifts, those come on January 6, from los Reyes Magos.

Globos de Santa Claus (Santa's head balloons) were a little startling as they drifted toward us, disembodied and surrealistic in the darkness.  There really is a vendor holding the pole.  Really.

Pink reindeer, Winnie the Pooh, and Jiminy Cricket team up with Santa.  After December 25 and until January 6, los Reyes Magos take Santa Claus's place in all the photo booths.

Which diadema (tiara) will it be: pink and white rabbit ears, hearts, kitten ears, or pure sequin sparkle?  This booth also sold pestañas y bigotes--glamourous fake eyelashes framed in glitter and big black mustaches, for less than ten pesos each!

This Santa got up from his rocker and asked if Mexico Cooks! had been good this year.  Ahem.  Mexico Cooks! is always good.

With a longing backward glance at the thrilling lights and spinning rides of the Fiestas Navideñas, we reluctantly headed home to rest.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

Down Memory Lane: Mexico Cooks!' Five...No, Six Favorite Platillos Mexicanos (Mexican Main Courses) from 2008

Mexico's best shrimp cocktail, at Guadalajara's Tianguis del Sol, July 2008.  Mexico Cooks! has traveled, lived, and eaten in 28 of Mexico's 31 states--plus the Distrito Federal--and has never eaten a better coctel de camarán.  Here's the link to the Mexico Cooks! article.

Enchiladas placeras (plaza-style enchiladas), Pátzcuaro, Michoacán.  This heaping platter full of enchiladas, potatoes, carrots, chicken breast, chiles, and cheese is addictive from the first bite.  Mexico Cooks! shared this big-enough-for-two plate of food with a friend as often as possible during 2008.  Read all about it here .

Chiles chilacas were Mexico Cooks!' biggest treat for the month of September.  Go with us again to Queréndaro's chile fair.

Mexico Cooks! loves everything on the menu at Fonda Marceva in Morelia.  What will it be: aporreadillo, toqueras, frijolitos con queso, pipián, or all of the above?  Take five or six people and enjoy the buffet, a taste of the restaurant's many specialties.

A succulent treat during December: Pacific lobster from the port of Lázaro Cárdenas.  Sweet, tender, and delicious, these deep-fried lobsters were the hit of December's V Encuentro de Cocina Tradicional de Michoacán.

Close to home and inexpensive, La Inmaculada Concepción is just the place for a down-home Mexican supper.  Just seeing the photo of these quesadillas fritas (fried quesadillas) makes our mouthes water.

Mexico Cooks! hopes you've enjoyed this eating adventure through 2008.  If you'd enjoy an on-site eating adventure, look here: Tours.