I need to record what I've learned about Christmas in Mexico. Christmas Day is not the day to receive gifts from Santa Claus. Infact, there really is no Santa Claus in Mexico. On Christmas Day there is an exchange of gifts between family and loved ones. BUT, the important day for children here is January 6th. This is the day the 3 Reyes Magos (Three Kings) bring gifts for all the children ages 0 - 12 yrs of age. I found out that on Saturday in the Centro de Leon, children wrote letters to the Reyes Magos of their Christmas lists and sent them in the air in Helium balloons. Berta told me that people with money, business people and others donate toys and games each year for this special day and then the toys are delivered to the poor colonias by bus. There is a special bread here for this day called Rosca de Reyes. It is a braided sweet bread with candied fruit on top and PLASTIC BABY DOLLS IN THE MIDDLE. The person or persons who eat the piece with the doll ....has the responsibility of making tamales for February 2nd. (Feb. 2nd is some Special Saints day, I am not sure who)
I found this out when I took down and put away all my Christmas decorations on December 31st....Elder Robledo informed me that in Mexico they do not take their decorations down until much later....some until this Feb 2nd, others until after January 6th. I love to learn about the different traditions of this culture....tomorrow I am going to buy a rosca de reyes for our concilio....
2 comments:
how interesting! that just means you get to celebrate Christmas even longer! great idea! by the way, we got our invite in the mail -- we are sooo excited to see you and the family and share in matt's special day! love you guys and hope all is well in mexico!
Did you get the plactic baby doll? I want you to learn how to make genuine tamales, so you can teach me! Remember when we did tamales at Granny's house? And when Vicenta taught us how to make flour tortillas? Such fun times...
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