S
smknhotmama
Guest
As I said I've sadly never had a tamale and have, thanks to you kind folks, been thinking of them constantly. How ironic to go on to the NPR site and see the following?
December 24, 2009
Forget the fruitcake and nix the nog. In Texas, it wouldn't be Christmas without tamales.
While shoppers from Washington to Maine swarmed the malls the day after Thanksgiving, many Texans were lining up to order — or make — Christmas Eve tamales. The corn masa-and-meat bundles — individually wrapped in corn husks and then steamed — are part of the traditional Mexican celebration of las posadas, which commemorates Mary and Joseph's search for shelter before the birth of Jesus.
Rhett Rushing, folklorist at San Antonio's Institute of Texan Cultures, said tamales have been traditional Christmas Eve fare for centuries because they're portable, easy to store and inexpensive to make for large gatherings.
Enlarge Katie Hayes for NPR Gina Guereca remixes a bowl of masa, which she purchased from a molina, or mill.
Katie Hayes for NPR Gina Guereca remixes a bowl of masa, which she purchased from a molina, or mill.
Through the years, the preparation of the labor-intensive food became a social event, called a tamalada, as womenfolk from ranches across Mexico and what's now the American Southwest gathered to prepare the Christmas Eve feast.
"By the time the day was over and the tamales were made, the family would be caught up, the arguments resolved, differences aired," Rushing said. "It wasn't just about the masa and the meat. It was the love and the tears."
the rest of the story:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121791809&sc=fb&cc=fp
There is also a great audio link on there as well:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17600740&ps=rs
Merry Christmas ALL!!!
December 24, 2009
Forget the fruitcake and nix the nog. In Texas, it wouldn't be Christmas without tamales.
While shoppers from Washington to Maine swarmed the malls the day after Thanksgiving, many Texans were lining up to order — or make — Christmas Eve tamales. The corn masa-and-meat bundles — individually wrapped in corn husks and then steamed — are part of the traditional Mexican celebration of las posadas, which commemorates Mary and Joseph's search for shelter before the birth of Jesus.
Rhett Rushing, folklorist at San Antonio's Institute of Texan Cultures, said tamales have been traditional Christmas Eve fare for centuries because they're portable, easy to store and inexpensive to make for large gatherings.
Katie Hayes for NPR Gina Guereca remixes a bowl of masa, which she purchased from a molina, or mill.
Through the years, the preparation of the labor-intensive food became a social event, called a tamalada, as womenfolk from ranches across Mexico and what's now the American Southwest gathered to prepare the Christmas Eve feast.
"By the time the day was over and the tamales were made, the family would be caught up, the arguments resolved, differences aired," Rushing said. "It wasn't just about the masa and the meat. It was the love and the tears."
the rest of the story:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121791809&sc=fb&cc=fp
There is also a great audio link on there as well:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17600740&ps=rs
Merry Christmas ALL!!!
