Tamales

Tamale come from the náhuatl word tamalli and its an amerindian dish, originally from México and from here to South America where their diet is corn based. Tamales are basically corn dough softened with lard and stuffed from veggies and spices to all kind of seasoned meat or a combination of both , also can be suffed with beans, and they are wrapped in banana leaves or corn leaves and steamed. There´s a large variety in Mexico since every state has many kind of tamales.

There is no particular date to eat them, but Tamales are usually associated with some festivities, as Feb. 2nd that is St. Candelaria´s Day , those who had a piece of "rosca" (bread -->) on Jan 6th and got a tiny baby toy on their bread are designated to bring the Tamales for Feb 2nd, its always like that, but lately some people start to forget or pretend to forget so they dont bring the Tamales! Its a fun Tradition where theres usually lots of Tamales and Hot chocolate.

Also Tamales are commonly served on "nueve dias ( nine days) it means when someone passes away there will be small religious ceremony everyday for nine days at the decease`s, and on last day (9th) will be carried out the last ceremony when the gravy cross is taken, and tamales will be served to relatives and friends at the end of the ceremony along with hot coffe and pieces of bread, I know it can sound strange for some that mexicans eat and drink while someone passed away, but I think it helps people on the process of letting someone loved go. Theres a wide variety of Tamales flavours and colors, I`ve seen pink tamales too and those are always sweet and are served on the side.