Christmas in Mexico

Rosca de Reyes 

I've been finding lots of ideas about Mexican Christmas. Lorena says it's the 24th when they eat pozole and open presents. I'm looking forward to the pozole. One knowledgeable site even suggested they eat a Rosca de Reyes but I thought that was only for Three Kings Day in January. I'm going to check in town later today and see if anyone is selling them.

On the 24th or “La Nochebuena” many families attend Misa de Gallo or midnight Mass, and enjoy the last day of “Las Posadas” and “Las Pastorelas.” On Christmas Eve, the families gather to eat “La cena de Nochebuena” and to share in the opening of the presents.

Nahima's Kitchen

It's got everything

A stove, fridge, sink and coffee maker

Nahima with Linda's doll present

There is nothing religious or sacred about Christmas for me. It's just vacation time and time to make some kids happy with a few presents, especially the younger ones. We went into town yesterday for a number of things including a trip to the Mirador and that is where Nahima is standing. Lorena had put the kitchen on "lay-away" and they snuck it into the back of my car so Nahima wouldn't see and then hid it in my bodega. I had a vague idea what it was so bought a large package of kitchen utensils. 

Linda brought the hippy doll down from Canada and a pair of long pants. Nahima wants to sleep in them. Yare got a colored pencil set and some clothes .... and Euriel got a Hotrod magazine.

Gonna have about 15 people over tomorrow for carne asada and shrimp and I think we have most everything, but I need to pick up friends tomorrow so will get what we forgot.

Had Mistletoe for Christmas and didn't know it

I went up on a ladder to cut some "suckers" (branches that shoot straight up) out of my Carambola tree. Noticed a bunch of leaves that did not match those of the tree. Looking further I could see a vine wrapped around the branches. Parts of it were glued tight and some just a dangling vine. I assumed a strangling fig or Ficus. The neighbors called it "malojo" (evil eye) and said that birds eat the seeds and then deposit them in their poop. Still didn't tell me what the English or scientific name was until I found an article on Mexconnect below. Gonna get my saw back from Ron today so I can cut out the last little bit.

My tree with the embedded starting point

Not the Christmas kind of Mistletoe

An embedded "root"

Of the Mexican mistletoes, some are herbaceous; others are vine-like, even treelike. Their leaves and flowers vary but several have tubular orange flowers growing wherever there is sufficient light. Phoradendron species are "hemiparasites", meaning that they are capable of some photosynthesis and have green leaves, unlike Cuscuta. Various birds including thrushes and tanagers feed heavily on mistletoe berries. Their sticky droppings deposited on branches contain the seeds which give rise to future mistletoe plants. Phoradendron flowers are well adapted to pollination by hummingbirds, though bees and other insects also help. 

One of these mistletoes, locally called "Mal Ojo" (Evil Eye), is very much in evidence at present in the Chapala area. Left to its own devices, it will quickly kill its host trees. It is so prolific that it seems in many cases that the whole tree is in flower; unfortunately, it is not the tree's flowers that are such a dramatic orange in color but the parasite's. 

Evil Eye - MexConnect

A little bit of Christmas flavor

Gotta have a little bit of Christmas flavor even though I'm not doing anything today but staying home. I doubt Hugo and family will come over because music was still blaring when the sun came up. Same with my neighbors across the street. It's some kind of an obligation to party all night on certain dates.

We were going to have dinner at my place yesterday but the road out here is still too sloppy so we took stuff over to Ron's. We brought a roasted chicken and Lorena made breaded shrimp (camaron empanizado). Ron bought two chickens and Dora made a couple salads.  Harris brought a couple buckets of beer. Great time and we came back with lots of food ... mainly for Hugo and family.

Found this on Facebook

Moon last night with IPhone

Moon with cheap camera - behind the cloud

Christmas Eve dinner

Cohetes and things

Cohetes that are church procession related are an all year thing depending on your local communities religious celebrations. They are sky rockets larger and louder than those normally sold to the public. The big time for public sales that the kids wait for comes the month before Christmas and New Year. We found these for sale in the Tianguis Wednesday and in a few weeks we'll see roadside stands. I'm sure each explosive type has a name but cohetes are cohetes and those little white/pink things are "cebollitas" (little onions).  Don't know the name for fire crackers or sparklers. We'll fire off a few a couple times a week up until New Year.

Tamale breakfast

Yesterday sunrise at 7 AM

Too cold for the pool but right for Xmas

We haven't used the pool in almost 3 weeks because of temperature. Get's pretty warm at mid day but nights are very cool and not enough sun to warm the pool. So I drained the pool yesterday and we took it apart today for cleaning and storage.

A little early for Christmas decorations but I wanted to see if both ropes of lights worked so I put them up on the posts like last year. Kinda like the lights and they use very little electricity. 

Drained pool with two hoses

Pool after washing and Xmas lights on poles

Poinsettia or Noche Buena

Well it's both but known as La Flor de Noche Buena here in Mexico (Christmas flower). Mine was one of three plants in a pot that I bought for the Cissus vine. They were so entangled I planted them together as is. The third plant is long gone but the Noche Buena grew to about 2.5 feet last year and was very pretty but didn't look like the Poinsettias you see up north. They are considered annuals up north because they can't take the cold but are native to Mexico and are actually perennials.

So for some reason last winter the plant looked old and tired and nearly dried up - so I cut it back to nothing. Very surprised a few months ago to see a few popping up near the original and now coming up as much as 10 feet away. So many that I have been digging them up and putting them in pots. So the question is are these starting from seed as there is no sign of runners off the original. They have individual root systems. Noche Buena is classified as a shrub or tree and can grow to 10 feet so we'll see what happens to some of these this year with better care.

The Poinsettia got it's US name from Joel Poinsett who was the first ambassador to Mexico and he introduced it up north. Lots of legends in Mexico from Early Christian times back to the Aztecs which are fun to read but pretty typical legends.

What you´d expect to see up north around Christmas

Mine in the garden

A few I´ve put in pots

Christmas Tamales

My sister emailed that she was listening to an NPR program on Christmas posadas in Mexico so I visited their site.    Didn't find anything on posadas but did find this tamales article on their food blog.   Got my mouth watering for tamales tonight.

NPR article by Maria Godoy

It's Christmas Eve, and many Latinos will celebrate the holiday tonight by unwrapping a delicious little present: tamales.

At its essence, a tamale consists of masa (a type of starchy corn dough) that's been wrapped in leaves, then steamed or boiled. Some come bundled in corn husks, others in plantain, banana or mashan leaves. Some are sweetened with molasses, others spiced with mole. Some are plain, others filled with meats or vegetables.

Indeed, Latin America has hundreds of interpretations of the tamale — these vary not just by country but often by region. In Mexico alone, "we have over 200 tamales," says Iliana de la Vega, a chef-instructor at the Culinary Institute of America, San Antonio, who is documenting Latin American foodways.

So whose version is best? That's a question likely to elicit a fiercely partisan response.

Full NPR article

Things that make her go hmmmmm ...

We went to the grande finale last night of the Señor Monte celebration in Jocotepec. Were waiting outside the church to see them bring out the Christ that would be paraded around town. These two were in close proximity to each other and right next to us. This does not look like approval

... except that at her age. Too funny!!

Christmas Tianguis in Jocotepec

Thursday is Tianguis day in Joco and was also the day before Christmas. That makes for a huge day of normal shopping as well as last minute shopping for presents. Vendor stands totally filled the plaza surrounding the Christmas tree and nativity scene. Mostly toys but also lots of clothing, food ... and people watching.

I made three trips to the plaza yesterday - one just to see in the morning and take some photos, a second with Maria and family shopping for clothes and food for our Xmas day dinner and a third in the evening with gringo friends to check the festivities and eat dinner. I'm still not a night photographer but friends had cameras and am hoping they got a few good shots. All are Bloggers so will wait to see what they post.

It seemed like the whole town was in a good mood as we walked back home checking out a few nativity scenes in front of private homes. Lots of hello's, buenas noches, Feliz Navidades, hand shakes and hugs. A very pleasant evening !!