I rarely listen to the radio in the car anymore, but when I do, I
listen to NPR.
This morning, the discussion was about the connection between Christmas
and tamales, a link that I was totally unfamiliar with.
When I was a kid growing up in the 1950’s, our Christmas dinner usually
included ham, mashed potatoes, a green bean casserole and either a pumpkin or
apple pie. It also might include tapioca pudding, and a cucumber side dish.
Christmas day usually involved a trip to the old farm house in
Hastings, where mom’s relatives gathered for meals and presents.
After I got married, dinners at the in-laws included the same basic
menu, with the addition of baked sweet potatoes covered with melted marshmallows.
So, you might ask, is the connection between Christmas and tamales?
Here is the answer:
In the Latino culture, it wouldn't be Christmas without
tamales. They've been around longer than tortillas and the origin can be traced
back to pre-Columbian indigenous people of Mesoamerica. The
foundation is the masa, which many indigenous people believed to be sacred, as
it allowed them to thrive. Throughout the years, the preparation of these have
become a social event, as families gather to assemble their holiday feast.
Every year on Christmas Eve, they were there for us. Warm,
spicy, and familiar, the smell of tamales would fill our kitchen as my
grandmother opened her large, aluminum tamalera. She’d spend the days prior
making trips to La Michoacana Meat Market to get the ingredients to make the
perfect, red pork filling, always remembering to get me a marranito while she
was there. Since her passing, I can’t help but think about the tradition that
we as Chicanos hold dear each holiday season and wonder about its cultural
significance. For Chicanos, tamales are one of
many staples of our traditional diet. But unlike tortillas and salsa, they hold a
special meaning, coming around solely for celebrations, holidays, and weddings.
I asked the experts why tamales matter to our people and found out exactly why
the taste of masa feels like coming home to so many of us.
The truth is, tamales are a part of our ancestral
DNA as people. They’ve been around much longer than tortillas. Claudia
Alarcon, an independent researcher of Mexican food and history, did her
undergraduate honors thesis on the beloved tamal. She says that the origin of
tamales can be traced all the way back to pre-Columbian Indigenous people of
Mesoamerica. A mural in a Guatemalan temple dating
back to 200 BC depicts what are thought to be tamales. Many
Indigenous tribes of Mesoamerica regarded maize as supremely sacred, believing
that the Gods provided corn specifically to keep humans thriving. Alarcon says
that many creation myths of Indigenous Mesoamerican cultures tell stories of
humankind being created from corn itself. “We know that corn takes cultivating
and great care,” says Alarcon. “Corn would not exist without the people and the
people would not exist without corn.”
The foundation of the tamal is masa or maize
dough. It’s cushiony, soft and can be eaten alone or
filled with vegetables, meat, or cheese. Pre-Columbian tamales featured
different ingredients than we commonly use today. They used quail, squash, or
varieties of fungus to fill tamales. When Spanish colonizers arrived, they
changed the common ingredients of the tamal, making pork, beef, chicken, and
lard popular contributions to the tamales we know today. “It was a cultural and
gastronomic exchange,” says Alarcon. “Cuisine all over the
world would not be what it is without the event of conquest happening.” This
means that tamales, like Latin American people themselves, are the result of
cultural blending. Alarcon says there’s no one right way to make a tamale. “Each
region has its own recipe, depending on what’s available in their ecosystem.
Tamales offer a culture in and of themselves.”
Dr. Manuel Zamarripa is the co-founder and
director of the Institute of Chicano Psychology
in Austin, Texas. He says that tamales are a tradition that brings families
together on holidays and connects them to their ancestral roots. “In terms of identity and cultural pride, tamales are a key
piece for a lot of Chicano families.” Many Mexican American families hold
gatherings to make tamales as a clan. Because it’s a
labor-intensive process, these gatherings, or tamaladas, give families the
opportunity to talk, connect, and share an age-old tradition. It’s a bonding
experience that connects them to each other and loved ones that are no longer
living. Alarcon is a native Mexican living in Texas. She says that
tamaladas are much more important to Chicanos than Mexicans. She agrees with
Zamarippa, pointing out that tamaladas are a way of preserving and celebrating
Mexican culture. “When families get together to make tamales, it turns into a
party,” she says. “It’s not a chore anymore.”
In a time when Latinos in the United States are
fighting to be heard, seen, and recognized, the connection to culture can
restore a sense of wellbeing for those in the community. “Food ties into our
idea of ‘brown’ wellness. Food, art, interactions, these are the threads that
we can hold onto. We’re able to celebrate our connectedness,” says Zamarripa.
Although generations of Latinos in the United States may lose connection to
their native tongue, their relationship to their home country, and even their
sense of cultural identity, food reunites us with what it means to FEEL Latino.
The tamale does this for Chicanos. Each holiday season, the ritual becomes an
opportunity to remember- through smell, taste, and togetherness. We reconnect
to our roots and feel a sense of wholeness.
In Texas, even non-Latinos celebrate Christmas
with tamales. Zamarripa points out that this cultural exchange is beautiful and
reminds all those that partake in the eating of another culture’s food to be
aware of the meaning behind the cuisine and to be conscious about what it takes
to get that food on the table. Many Latino immigrants work in American fields
to grow and pick produce. They work in the kitchens of many American
restaurants. They are the hands behind so much of what we eat. “They’re not just
providing us with food,” says Zamarripa. They’re providing us with cherished
holiday memories. It’s important to remember the people behind the food.”\
Every Christmas, when we take those first bites of
soft, spicy, tamal, whether we are sampling the hipster, vegetarian kind, or
eating from the recipe left by our grandmothers, we find our way back home.
Full bellies and hearts discover the meaning of the season, as warmth and
togetherness become our focus. For a moment, the concern about our place in the
world is no more, as we are reminded of the sacredness of what we receive from
the earth and the strength and resilience of our people. Whether tamelada-prepared
or store-bought, tamales allow us to feel legitimate. The history of Latinx
people is a story of great civilizations, conquered and changed by oppressors,
who created within us a permanent sense of questioning when it comes to our
identity. And when we make the food they made, we remember that we are a blend.
Each one of us is, to quote Alarcon, “a culture in and of ourselves.”
Would Santa eat a tamale on Christmas Day?
Si, senor~
Feliz navidad
