September 16th is Mexico’s Independence Day! Yes, it’s true! You might be scratching your head because Cinco de Mayo is often confused with Mexico’s Independence Day here in the US, but hopefully if you’re reading this, this is the last time you’ll confuse the two.

I usually process history easier if I can clearly see a timeline of events so I’m going to give a super simple timeline so we can start seeing how history went down.

This is a statue of Miguel Hidalgo in front the church where he gave his passionate speech to call people to rise against Spanish rule.

1400-1600 - European explorers made their way to the what is known as North & South America along with surrounding islands.

1492 - Colombus sailed to what is at present day known as the US.

1519 - Hernán Cortéz of Spain arrives in present day Mexico to begin his conquest of the Aztec Empire.

1776 - Declaration of Independence published in the US.

1810 - After 300 years, Miguel Hidalgo gave a powerful speech to spur the rally to rise against the Spanish rule. Known as “El Grito”.

1821 - Treaty of Cordoba was signed ending the war with Spain, But this was just the continuation of Mexico’s road to independence.

1836 - Spain finally recognizes The Independence of the Mexican Empire, with the signing of the Santa Maria-Calatrava Treaty

1862 - Mexico’s victory over France in the French-Mexican War in Puebla (known as Cinco de Mayo).

In Mexico the celebrations can start the weekend before Independence Day, but officially starting with “El Grito” on the evening of Sept 15th. The president will reenact Hidalgo’s cry that took place in 1810. While this year there will be minimal celebrations. Most people will be staying in and watching celebrations on TV from home.

I know this is a very simple version of the historical events leading to Mexico’s Independence, but it’s a start. I’m learning alongside my kids when it comes to world history and am processing how historical events around the world have brought us to the present. Learning about European exploration, brings up so many feelings that take time to understand and process. I hope that as we learn, we have more conversations about how we can learn from the past and build a better society for the generations that follow.

You guys! I learned how to make corn tortillas…that actually puff up! You might not think that it’s that big of a deal, but for me it is! I went to Oaxaca last year in November, and I took a cooking class from this wonderful family. We had the most amazing food, and one of the things that we made was tetelas. And for that you have to make a corn tortillas first. So when I came home, I went out to buy some masa, and borrowed my friend’s tortilla press.

In my attempts to make corn tortillas on my own, I failed many times. The masa (dough) would be too dry, too wet, they would come out too thick, they wouldn’t puff…etc. With each “failed” batch I made, I tried something different and got closer to making them right. This weekend, I finally got the right consistency, AND that nice puff. I’m still learning to get the tortillas consistent, but I call this a win.

Why is this so important to me?

Food is such an important part of a culture. Learning how to make Mexican food has been a way for me to draw closer to my Mexican roots. I didn’t grow up with anyone passing down family recipes (other than a few staples), so I’ve had to research and experiment on my own, so I CAN pass things down to my children.

It’s also so fun, for my family to get excited for me when I succeed. Now they prefer homemade tortillas to store bought ones, and my batch of 16 is usually gone in one sitting. Everything I learned about making corn tortillas I googled. I pulled from different resources until I found what worked for me. So I’ll share some tips.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup Maseca

1 1/4 cup Water

You’ll also need:

Plastic tortilla sheets OR a plastic baggie

And a tortilla press OR a pie dish or something to press the masa with

You pretty much just mix these two ingredients for 16 tortillas. But here are some tips that have helped me to get mine to puff up.

• I have a metal tortilla press, so I don’t push very hard and only press once per tortilla.

• Before I peel the plastic off of the raw tortilla, I run my hand over the plastic. Then I peel the plastic back, put the plastic back over the tortilla, flip it over, and do the same on the other side. This helps it not stick to the plastic.

• I use a super hot griddle. I have it to the highest setting.

• Once the tortilla starts to cook, about 30-45 seconds, I do the first flip.

• I cook the tortilla a little longer, and then flip again.

• If the tortilla isn’t puffing up after a few seconds after the second flip, I apply a little bit of pressure on the tortilla with my spatula. I might flip again and apply pressure if it’s still not puffing.

I’ve learned that cooking is an art, and with any art, when you’re learning how to use your tools and materials, you’ll get some mess ups along the way. So be patient. And feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

The kids love having tacos or quesadillas. Today, I had my tortillas with some eggs and arroz and salsa roja.

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This is our first time as a family making cascarones for Easter. Cascarones are confetti-filled egg shells. (Cascara means egg shell in spanish) Usually during Lent, you can start collecting shells to fill and decorate. Two years ago, I brought a big bag home from Mexico and we all had a great time cracking them. So this year, since we are home and I’m looking for different activities for us to do, I decided to make our own! The past weekend we started filling and decorating our shells.

One option to decorate the eggs is to dye the eggs before cracking them, like you would do for Easter with hard boiled eggs. But I didn’t have any of the materials to dye eggs, so I just decided to decorate the shells after we filled them.

Here’s what we did:

1. Collect egg shells, and clean them out. (You have to crack the top carefully and let the eggs ease out of the little hole)

2. Let the shells dry, it usually takes a day for it to fully dry after cleaning them out.

3. Gather your materials - confetti, tissue paper, glue/modge podge, paints, markers, anything else you have in your home to decorate.

4. Fill with confetti, which was just cut up construction paper.

5. Glue a piece of tissue paper over the open hole. You can use modge podge if you have it, but I just mixed some glue and a little water and painted it on.

6. Decorate! We tried a few different things, We painted some of the eggs with extra paint I found. We also used tissue paper to cover some eggs using the water/glue mixture. If you don’t have glue you can use washi tape too. This was the fun part, and I let the kids choose how they wanted to decorate their eggs and had a nice afternoon of creating.

7. Let the eggs dry.

8. Break them over each others heads for celebration!

   * I did notice that the eggs that were painted were a little easier to crack over your head than the ones with glue and tissue paper.

We still have a few days before the weekend, so I’ll probably save more shells over and decorate more on Friday. This year we’re going to crack them on Saturday for Elias’ birthday. His birthday is the day before Easter this year, and since we’re not able to host a birthday party for him, this is one thing he can look forward to. So start collecting your eggs shells! I’d love to see if you make these too, so comment below, or send me a picture via instagram or facebook!

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I’ll be honest, and say I’ve never celebrated Dia de la Candelaria. And this was the first year that we celebrated (in our own way) Dia de los Reyes which was on Jan 6th.  I even made Rosca de Reyes the traditional bread for this day. These two holidays are a follow up to Christmas. This is actually the first year I’ve done research on these two events. I get self conscious when it comes to traditions or holidays I’ve never celebrated or heard of because it’s part of my culture, and I feel like I SHOULD know about this. But rather than sit in that self conscious state, I know that I want to be able to teach my children as I dive deep into historical dates and the reasons behind them. 

To give you a context for the progression of the holidays:

First, on Christmas Eve, the Niño Dios, or baby Jesus is placed in the nativity scene, on January 6th, King's Day, the baby Jesus is brought presents from the Magi, and on February 2nd, the baby Jesus is dressed in fine clothes and presented in the church.

Dia de la Candelaria is based on the passage in scripture Luke 2:22-39 when Jesus was presented at the temple and was referred to as “a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people of Israel”; giving significance to the candles. It’s also 40 days from Christmas which according to Jewish law is how long a women is considered unclean after giving birth. 

Dia de los Reyes is the family celebration on Jan 6th, where Pan de Reyes is eaten. Pan de Reyes is a bread with a little baby Jesus figurine hidden inside. And if you are the one who found it in your piece of bread, the torch is passed and it’s customary for you to host the Dia de Candelaria celebration with lots of tamales and atole for your family. This Mexican tradition is the acknowledgement of both the European and pre-Hispanic traditions since tamales were used as offerings to the god of water in hopes that the rain is abundant for a good harvest in the coming year.

Lastly, Dia de la Candelaria is also a sign of transition from the holiday and winter season to the Spring, in the same way Groundhog Day is that for the United States. 

This year I made it a priority to start learning how to make tamales. I have a long way to go, but I’m excited to say I’ve made 3 batches, each one a little better than the last. I also shared my atole & champurrado recipe that had the perfect sweetness and thickness for my liking. Tell me, I’d love to hear if or how your family enjoys these holidays. Do you have a favorite memory from childhood that you’ve continued with your family? 

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This is the first time we will be celebrating Dia de los Reyes as a family. Honestly I hadn’t really known about this holiday until last year. Our friends brought over a Rosca de Reyes cake and explained this tradition to us.

Dia de Reyes is celebrated on January 6th and is the 12th day after Christmas, officially marking the end of the holiday festivities. Just like Santa Claus is the traditional character to bring gifts on Christmas, in Latin America, the three wise men are the ones to bring gifts for children, just like the three wise men brought gifts to baby Jesus.

Rosca de Reyes is a sweet bread that is supposed to resemble a crown, with fruit that resembles rubies or jewels. On this day it’s tradition to get together with family have a meal, and share a Rosca de Reyes. There’s a small plastic baby hidden inside. Just like the location of Jesus also needed to be kept hidden so his life would be spared, no one knows who will get the piece with the baby figurine.

Whoever ends up with the baby figurine has to host a big meal with tamales and atole on Feb 2nd, Dia de la Candelaria. Yes, it does seem like there’s always a party going on…but I’m not complaining.

The tradition is for kids to leave out a shoe with carrots or grass for the camels, and it will be replaced with some candy. Usually the day before the kids create little baskets, which they leave next to their bed. A gift brought by the wise men is then left inside or next to the basket.

This year since my kids got plenty of gifts for Christmas, we’re going to be talking about how they can use their gifts or talents or skills to share with others to bring glory to God. They did end up leaving a shoe out with carrots, (we don’t have that much grass) that was filled with some goodies. I made tamales again, as well as my own Rosca de Reyes. I followed a recipe from Muy Bueno and just modified it a little. My son, doesn’t really like a lot of sweets, and really hates when things are sticky, so I skipped the fruit, and the glazed topping, and both the kids LOVED this bread. I definitely recommend it. It’s been fun sharing all of these new traditions and recipes with my family.

I’d love to know what you do for this holiday. Leave a comment below!

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