ESSAY FINALIST IN THE 2016 ‘BASKET OF CHEER’ CONTEST
| GRADE 10
Clare is 16 years old and 100% Latina and British. She currently lives in Madrid practicing her
Spanish and enjoying
Jamon iberico
. She loves musical theatre and spends her time singing,
acting, and dancing. She also loves travelling and meeting different cultures. She has become
an enthusiastic fan of all things Greek, where she’s been going for the past two years, enjoying
the divine “gyros” (she’s also a food fan if you haven’t noticed). Once she graduates, she hopes
to cross the pond (come to America) and do a double major in Classics and Art.
CLAIRE AMAYA-PARRA
M
ore than just a plain old corn tamal, my
typical Christmas meal is a union of various
international elements originating in South
America, Europe and Africa. It contains the corn, the
primary source of nutrition for the indigenous people
of Venezuela. This is accompanied by the
guiso
, a stew
containing various meats and vegetables, many of which
are mass produced in Europe. Finally, it is wrapped in
plantain leaves, brought by African slaves, who helped
work the Venezuelan fields and bring them to prosperity.
When you’ve lived in three countries, it can sometimes be
difficult to have a fixed Christmas tradition, since every
country has different Christmas meals, music, services
and yes, presents. This year, I’m excited to be spending
my first Christmas in Spain, and I have already listened to
various Spanish
Villancicos
and tasted
Turron
(a delicious
Spanish sweet like nougat) and
Pastas
(really good
cookies). I moved to Spain two months ago, after spending
twelve years in London enjoying turkey, Christmas
crackers and good old Christmas carols (but not enjoying
Brussels sprouts). However, as I grew up, my parents took
care to also celebrate our Venezuelan background, the hot
and tropical South American country where every member
of my family was born and where I was lucky enough to
spend the first four years of my life. Every Christmas, we
gather together to prepare
hallacas
, a corn tamal whose
name means “mixed things” in indigenous. Like many
other Venezuelan families, my family prepares this typical
dish, which infuses the entities that made my country
including Native Americans, Spaniards and Africans.
The first primary ingredient in an
hallaca
is the corn. A
plant that grows in abundance in my country, the corn
is pressed and ground coarsely to make flour mixed with
water and a pinch of salt. Corn is the ingredient that
represents the Native Americans of Venezuela, whose
daily meals were almost all made up of corn. The corn is
made into a thick yellow paste (coloured with annatto
seeds), which is to be filled with a
guiso
(a stew). Normally,
around 40
hallacas
(depending on family size) are
prepared to last until January for everyone. Even frozen
hallacas
conserves their good taste.
The next important part of the
hallaca
is the
guiso
. The
guiso
mixes all the European ingredients brought from
those who came to colonize Venezuela. It contains
Mediterranean olives and raisins, meat brought by the
colonial captains that came from Spain, and even Arabic
capers and almonds. However, truly, no
guiso
is the
same; each family makes it how they like it best, adding
pork, boiled eggs, chickpeas, peppers, etc. Preparing the
guiso
and
hallacas
can take an entire day, and my family
normally prepares them after breakfast to enjoy
hallacas
for dinner!
The most important part of the
hallaca
is the plantain
leaves. Plantain leaves represent the African slaves
who, along with their music and customs, brought their
plantains and plantain leaves to Venezuela. The plantain
leaves are laid out, and the corn paste stretched on top
into a circular shape. Then a spoonful of
guiso
is put on
top, and the plantain leaves are folded up to make a small
parcel tied up with string.
Normally, the whole family participates in preparing the
hallacas
; when I went to Venezuela for Christmas, every
member of the family would have a specific role in the
preparation, such as making the corn paste, making the
guiso
, wrapping up the
hallacas
, etc.
Hallacas
not only bring together the richness of
Venezuelan heritage, but they also unite the nation’s
families together like my own, and for the families
celebrating Christmas abroad, the hope that we will one
day come back to make Venezuela prosper once more.
7
BAYLEY BULLETIN, DEC 2016-FEB 2017
