Each year a group of Mexican mothers in Toronto bring the tradition of breaking the Rosca de Reyes alive in Canada.
When there was no place to buy the traditional Mexican bread, Mexican mother Liliana Altamirano, originally from Oaxaca, set about finding a recipe on the internet and gathering the ingredients to prepare the traditional holiday bread.
Each year she invites Mexican-Canadian families to revive this tradition in Canadian.
“Preparing the Rosca de Reyes represents for me the continuation of the Mexican tradition in this country,” she told Notimex.
Liliana explained that “the craving” to eat Rosca de Reyes on January 6 led her to find a recipe to make it, because in 2007 there was no one to selling the bread in Toronto.
“I started preparing it first for the craving to eat the bread and because before it was not easy to get it. I invited my friends to come and help prepare the Rosca de Reyes and it became a custom every year.”
Liliana, married to a Canadian, said she wants her young son Joshua to know and continue this tradition, which has been joined by a dozen Mexican moms with their children, who with great excitement are looking forward to the chance “Doll”.
“Now this year my son is bigger, he was very excited because he helped prepare the bread together with me and my husband,” added Liliana, whose recipe does not require any liquid, neither water nor milk.
María Ángeles Niembro, one of the faithful attending this collective tradition, told Notimex that “the Mexican bread has always been a family tradition, here (in Toronto) there is a lack of family, so friends become our family, and we share it happily with our children spreading this tradition. ”
One mother, who also participates in this yearly tradition, said that living outside Mexico “makes us value our culture and traditions more.” She thanked Liliana for her willingness to prepare the bread and bring the families together.
“Our beautiful friend Liliana started to do it because there was no one to sell them. Today, thanks to the popularity, they already sell them, but there are people who still prefer to make them feel even more special.”
Another of the attendees, Melania Marín, expressed her pleasure that her Latin American friends in Toronto “tell me how much they admire how Mexicans hold on to our traditions and celebrate them with great pride in representing our country.”
The coexistence around the Rosca de Reyes was accompanied by chicken tingas and refried beans.
Nine years ago, an immigrant from Michoacan came to Toronto to continue a three-generation baking tradition and every year he sells hundreds of Rosca de Reyes as “hot bread.”
“Our Rosca de Reyes are a handcrafted process, as we do in Mexico,” said the owner of Panchos Bakery, Adalberto Aguilar. “We import it from Morelia and the market grows every year.
In Toronto the tradition of Rosca de Reyes is completely fulfilled and those receive take “Doll” comply with tamales and atole on February 2, Candelaria Day.
Source: Notimex
