{"id":5289,"date":"2017-12-14T09:26:22","date_gmt":"2017-12-14T15:26:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.idiomacr.com\/?p=5289"},"modified":"2017-12-14T09:26:22","modified_gmt":"2017-12-14T15:26:22","slug":"tamal-tico-christmas-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idiomacr.com\/en\/history-en\/tamal-tico-christmas-tradition\/","title":{"rendered":"Tamal: Tico Christmas Tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Never have experienced the Holiday season in Costa Rica (or any other country) I didn\u2019t know what to expect. There are no snow-covered rooftops, no fields of pine trees, no bells jingling all the way. However, there are tamales. I have not witnessed a tradition here that is more carefully observed than the Holiday season tamal. Unlike Mexico and the Unite States, the Costa Rican spelling is Spanish (literally from Spain) without the last letter \u2018e.\u2019 Nearly every family in Costa Rica will partake in this tradition. So many that the University of Costa Rica concluded in a study that \u201c196 million pairs of tamales [are] eaten during December [which equals] three tamales per Tico per day.\u201d (www.ticotimes.net) That is truly a mountain of tamales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dating back almost 500 years ago, the tamal tradition has been more Costa Rican than the phrase, \u201cpura vida.\u201d Recipes vary from home to home, but this is incredibly family oriented. \u201cGrandmothers and mothers will teach granddaughters and daughters how to make tamales; making sure the tradition is kept alive.\u201d (qcostarica.com) Although it may not have always been part of Christmas, it has been part of tradition since before the Spanish conquistadors arrived in Costa Rica. \u201cThe corn filling symbolized the sun god for indigenous people 500 years ago, but when Spanish conquistadors colonized the isthmus, the food became part of festivities celebrating the immaculate conception and Christmas.\u201d (www.ticotimes.net<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n