Christmas with a Mexican flavor
Latin America, a continent with deep Catholic roots, has very particular ways of celebrating Christmas. Each region has its own distinct beliefs and superstitions, characters, customs, and special dishes. Still, from country to country, the Spanish Christmas season involves the glow of families reuniting, the sounds of the purest traditions, and is a time of grand celebration. How this came about is very difficult to explain.
Just like everyone else, the Latinos find it impossible to determine when they began to celebrate Christmas. They mixed their indigenous beliefs with those brought over during the Spanish Conquest. One symbol, indispensable to any Spanish home today, perfectly illustrates the merging of both cultures: the manger, a completely European tradition that came to these lands with the Spaniards. There is no way to know if the native Latinos knew about mangers. But it has been shown that in Europe, the first mangers, which did not include the Virgin Mary, existed as early as the fourth century. The Virgin and the star were included by the end of the fifth century. It took a couple of centuries for the three wise men to become part of the scene and appear as Latin America’s Christmas symbol does today.
However, this uncertainly hasn’t stopped the Latinos from celebrating. Nine full days of religious festivities announce the coming of Christmas in Latin America: There are Posadas in Mexico, midnight masses in Venezuela, Novenas in Colombia and Brazil, and Revels and Assaults (the equivalent of caroling) in Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands. The Latinos dedicate themselves to the Christmas season with fervor, and the entire family participates in the preparations. They are not necessarily the housewife’s responsibility alone.
Christmas dinner takes place on Christmas eve, December 24 (in countries like Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil, December 25 is only a school and work holiday). From Mexico to Patagonia, families gather around delicious and lavish dinners that have many things in common, including tamales of different names and styles, exquisite birds alongside traditional pork chine, rich and colorful salads, vegetables prepared hundreds of different ways, and desserts so exquisite you’ll wish Christmas could last the whole year.
Once you try the menu that has been so carefully chosen for you here, we wouldn’t blame you for deciding you never want Christmas to end. Our hope is that these dishes will help reveal the magic of Mexican cuisine, a magic magnified year after year by the wonderful experience of having all your loved ones gathered around the table on an evening that’s full of joy, just as it must have been the very first time.
Merry Christmas and have a good meal!.
