Felices Fiestas!
Happy Hollidays!
There are many traditions in latin America, Mexico being the closest example has several ways to conmemorate the hollidays and as you may guess we are going to focus on the FOOD!
Here are a few examples of Mexican Holliday Food:
Bunuelos
Served with a hot drink, buñuelosmake an excellent treat on a cold night. This crispy fried treat is like a sweet tostada which is sprinkled with sugar or doused in syrup. In Oaxaca there are special stands set up at Christmastime selling buñuelos and atole. After enjoying the sweet fritter, you make a wish and throw your clay plate on the ground, where it smashes to bits. This tradition is said to spring from a pre-Hispanic festivity in which all the dishes were broken at the end of a calendar cycle.
Ponche Navideño
Mexican hot fruit punch is made with tejocotes (Mexican hawthorn), which look like crab apples but have large pits and a unique flavor. Guavas, apples, and other fruit are added and the drink is flavored with cinnamon and sweetened with piloncillo. This is a wonderfully warming beverage, whether taken with or without piquete (a splash of alcohol).
Tamales
Tamales are cornmeal dumplings which may be prepared with a variety of different fillings. They are wrapped in corn husks (or occasionally banana leaves), and steamed. Because tamales are time-consuming to prepare, they are a special holiday food that are only made a few times throughout the year, in large batches, often with many members of the family assisting in parties that are called tamaladas
