Tamale Day!

Back in December, I promised to write about the final end of Mexico's Christmas celebration.
February 2 is 40 days after Dec. 25. As such, it is the celebration of Jesus' presentation in the temple. Protestants don't normally observe such celebrations, and I don't think many catholics do anymore either, but Mexicans still do.
So, on Dia de los Reyes (3 kings day/ epiphany) Mexicans eat a cake in the shape of a wreath. hidden in that wreath is a small plastic Jesus. Anyone who gets a Jesus in his or her cake is responsible for hosting a party on Feb. 2. That party normally involves delicious "tamales" or baked corn cakes, which are normally eaten for breakfast. Offices who shared the wreath on Jan. 6 will have tamales today when everyone gets to work. Families may have a party early this morning or tonight.

I also wrote in December about our difficulty finding a nativity scene that included the baby Jesus. We were told that most people have a separate Jesus that doesn't match the rest of the holy family. That sounded really strange to us until we remembered "tamale day".
Today, Mexicans carry their plastic baby Jesuses from their home nativity scene (yes, the nativity is still on display - the picture above is from the hotel where we stayed this past weekend - notice how HUGE Jesus is?!) to the church for the priest to bless it before they put the Jesus away. This is to remember when Mary & Joseph brought the baby Jesus to the temple for His dedication at 40 days after His birth.

We did notice that some churches were doing Jesus blessing this past Sunday, as many modern Mexicans now have to go to work and school on Feb. 2 and don't always have time to stop by church with their baby Jesus.