Your letters and opinions In Our Next Issue D uring the era of the kings of France, bread was filled with a lima bean, and the person who found it in his bread would receive the gift that His Highness had prepared for the event. The idea was to place a lima bean in the bread dough, which was usually filled with fruits like dates and raisins, and this bread was shared around the time of the New Year festivities. The tradition changed a bit when it arrived to the Americas, transforming itself according to the customs and resources of our country, where it eventually became the rosca . Here the rosca is decorated with pieces of orange and lime, and is filled with nuts, figs, and cherries.
Hot chocolate accompanies the rosca.
So every year, on January 6, families all across Mexico gather around their tables to share the rosca de reyes . And now, instead of finding a lima bean in the bread, a little plastic doll representing Jesus is placed in the bread. The person who receives a piece of bread with this doll inside has to make the tamales used in the fiesta de la Candelaria on February 2. They traveled to Bethlehem, and along the way they found the King Herod, whom they told of the birth of the new King. Herod ordered them to find the baby and return to give the news of the place where the little Messiah had been born.