Candlemas - a good reason for a celebration!

If you are looking to chase away the winter blues, look no further than Candlemas, celebrated on February 2nd of each year.  Candlemas is known by many names, Festival of Lights in English and Día de la Candelaria in Spanish. Living in the Southwestern United States with its multiple cultures, I have always wanted to plan a Candlemas celebration.  This year may be the year!

My idea began on January 6th in my home city of El Paso, Texas, where Three Kings Day is celebrated with a special sweet bread, called Rosca de Reyes. 

A small plastic figurine, representing the Baby Jesus, is baked into the bread.  Tradition has it that the person whose slice of bread contains the figurine must host the next get together on Candlemas Day.  In actual practice, bakers usually place several figurines in the bread, I suppose so that more people can join in the fun. My husband, Wayne, and I ate our way through most of a medium-sized rosca without finding the figurine, but I still wanted to plan another winter celebration.

Candlemas was a pagan festival adopted by the Catholic church and given special religious meanings.  What intrigues me about this holiday is that it occurs midway between the December solstice (Do you remember that short, dark day?) and the March equinox, which some consider the beginning of springtime.  Once Christmas and New Year's Day are over, I can barely wait for springtime and gardening season.  Candlemas will remind me that I have made it halfway through the winter.  If I can just hold on a little longer...

Candlemas has several important associations.  For those of use who missed making New Year's resolutions, it is a time for new beginnings. It can be the impetus for spring cleaning or preparing the ground for spring planting.  Candlemas is also traditionally a predictor of future weather, much like Groundhog Day. ""If Candlemas be fair and bright, Winter has another flight.  If Candlemas brings cloud and rain, Winter will not come again." 

Now for celebration plans.  First, I will turn the electric lights off and light as many candles as I can locate around the house.  Next, the menu.  Tamales are typically served in Mexico.

We still have tamales in the freezer left over from the Christmas season, but we may buy fresh ones from a waiter friend at a local restaurant whose wife is a caterer.  Fresh, warm tamales are a special treat.  My favorites are the green chile and cheese.

If our weather turns cold, I may attempt a Mexican drink known as champurrado that has yummy ingredients like milk, chocolate, brown sugar, corn flour (masa harina) cinnamon and anise. I'm also considering the idea of serving a dessert crepe, because crepes and pancakes, which have the color and shape of the sun, are a European tradition.

  


I am intrigued by the thought of observing Candlemas,  a holiday that has been celebrated for centuries and continues to evolve, acquiring new connections to daily life.  And I have great hopes that planning a party will help keep me entertained during those long, dreary days until March 20, the First Day of Spring finally arrives.



 

Three Southwestern Holiday Dishes

Try as I may, I cannot make it through the end of the year holidays without indulging in some special foods.  And living in the Desert Southwest, these foods usually have a special southwestern flair. Here are three dishes that my family enjoyed recently.

Tamales and winter holidays are made for each other. Tamale shops around El Paso, my home town, gear up in December for requests for large orders of tamales. Other more traditional families host tamaladas (tamale making parties) with family and friends forming a line to assembly the tamales before placing them in a large pot to steam.  (As an ex-Spanish teacher, I am a bit bothered by not using the more correct Spanish version, tamal in the singular form, tamales for plural, but I am guessing most readers will recognize "tamale" over tamal.)

This year my husband, Wayne, and I opted for the easier route and stopped by a nearby Pepe's Tamales shop to buy a few tamales for New Year's Eve.  Still, decisions had to be made.  A half-dozen or a dozen?  Red chile with pork, green chile with chicken, or green chile with cheese? We walked out of the shop with my favorite, six green chile with cheese tamales.  

We heated the tamales in a steamer on the stove and served them with pinto beans, Spanish rice, a dab of guacamole, and mango salsa.  The new plates that were a Christmas present were a perfect backdrop for a delicious meal.  

  

Another special dish we prepared this holiday season was Eggs Benedict.  Wayne is addicted to Eggs Benedict ever since he had a wonderful version of this dish in Dublin, Ireland.  I bought him an egg poacher for Christmas so that the eggs would be a snap to prepare, and we could concentrate on making a tasty sauce.  The egg poacher came with a sauce recipe. It was acceptable, but not as delicious as Wayne remembered. (Isn't that often the case with food memories?) Eggs Benedict can be transformed into a southwestern dish by putting any number of sauces made with chile on them. The eggs were served on our old Mexican dishes, which were soon to be put away to make room for the new ones.

 

Red enchiladas were also on the menu at our house this holiday season.  Of course, one can eat red enchiladas any time of the year, but somehow the rich red color of the sauce makes this dish especially appropriate around Christmas time.  The quality of the red sauce is key.  I sometimes spend an afternoon in the kitchen and make red sauce from scratch, that is, starting with the dried chile pods.  This time, however, Wayne whipped up a sauce using red chile powder.  He served the enchiladas with a side order of refried beans and a few leftover little sausages on some metal plates with wooden bases that we found at an antique shop many years ago.  

All this talk of food is making me crave something spicy, but unfortunately the holidays have just ended, and the pantry is bare except for a large jar of peanut butter.  I'll have to have a slathering of it on an apple slice and dream about a great dish to celebrate Valentine's Day, which seems very far away.

A Southwest Christmas is almost here

Some Decembers my husband, Wayne, and I go out of town for the holidays, searching for the elusive perfect setting to enjoy Christmas.  We have traveled to several cities in Texas; Auckland, New Zealand; Melbourne, Australia; and Santa Fe, New Mexico.  This year, however, we decided to again explore holiday activities in our home town of El Paso, Texas. Christmas in the Southwest has a special flavor because we live on the US-Mexico border, where languages and cultures swirl together to create a memorable experience.

Our first stop was the newly renovated San Jacinto Plaza, located in the heart of downtown El Paso.  It was a chilly Saturday evening (well, at least 50 degrees F!)  when we joined the crowds to ooh and ahh over the holiday park decorations

and, of course, the giant Christmas tree.

And no El Paso celebration would be complete without mariachi music and traditional Mexican dances.

The visit to San Jacinto Plaza was a great excuse to break a diet regime and line up at the food truck selling churros, served warm and covered with sugar, with a delicious caramel filling. Every bite of churro was worth the extra calories.

Our next hometown holiday experience came on a tour of El Paso's Lower Valley.  We spent a few quiet moments in the Socorro Mission, a beautiful, welcoming church located on what is known as the Mission Trail. The simple exterior of the church contrasts with the ornate interior.

A few miles drive to the south took us to the historic town of San Elizario, where a traditional community celebration was in progress in the plaza.

Upon arrival, we headed straight for the booth selling homemade tamales and champurrado, a special warm drink made with cornmeal, cinnamon and brown sugar. Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus arrived to greet the Amigo Man, an El Paso mascot.

I was especially impressed with the live animals that were waiting to take part in a posada, a reenactment of Joseph and Mary's search for shelter on a long ago night. The young goats gamboled as their mother watched placidly.

The San Elizario Chapel overlooking the plaza provided just the right tone for the religious celebration.

Last night, we stopped in the L&J cafe, an iconic El Paso Mexican restaurant, for dinner.  The atmosphere was lively, with a bar filled with holiday merrymakers and tables occupied with couples and families.  Waiters and waitresses rushed around, making a valiant effort to make everyone happy.

Wayne looked out at the scene contentedly and said, "I love El Paso."  Yes, I do too.  It's a great place to spend the Christmas holiday season.