in mexico,
the day of the kings
(january 6)
is almost as important as christmas.
it celebrates the coming of the magi
to visit the baby jesus.
this is when you start to see the magi in nativity scenes.
because, duh, they weren't in bethlehem before this date.
there are traditions that sound very similar
to christmas traditions --
like leaving milk and sweets for the magi and their camels.
(although one would think leaving straw might be more appropriate for camels.)
and there are some traditions that are totally different--
children and adults polish their shoes,
leave them outside their rooms the night before,
and the next morning there are presents in their shoes.
but there is another tradition that is even more fun.
rosca de reyes.
on january 6th,
people come together to eat an oval cake
with candied fruit on top
and a baby jesus hidden somewhere inside.
everyone is supposed to cut their own piece of the cake
and as they eat it,
they look out for the baby jesus.
the tradition follows that whoever finds the baby
has to buy tamales for everyone else
on candelaria,
february 2.
this is the day the nativity scene is put away.
maybe the best part of this day
is the fact that there were two babies in the cake
and rcg found both of them.
tamales!
also,
i totally wish i had known about
i mean,
who doesn't want a piece of an almost 10 ton cake?
here are some stats on this cake:
it is 2,340 feet long
and cost more than 1 million pesos to make.
and to make this thing it took
~11,900 pounds of flour
~6,600 lb.
of butter
~528 lb. of yeast
~5,720 lb. of sugar
~1,450 lb. of powdered sugar
~73 lb. of baking flour
~154 lb. of salt.
~2,640 lb. of candied fruit colored green, white and red
insane.
i want a piece so bad.
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