The holidays mark the season for tamaladas — a widespread Mexican tradition that brings together friends and family under one roof to make tamales.
In a tamalada, each person has their designated role: someone brings the holla (a large cooking pot), another person prepares the masa (tamal dough) or hojas (corn husks), while others fill the husks with meat and other fillings.
Chisme, or gossip, usually ensues.
In San Antonio, the play “Las Nuevas Tamaleras” highlights the significant, yet arduous, process of tamaladas.
The play — going on its 27th year — is about three women who attempt their first tamalada, underestimating the blood, sweat and tears that go into making tamales.
They ultimately succeed with the help of divine intervention from the spirits of experienced tamaleras.
Alicia Mena is the playwright, director and producer of the play. She wrote it as a way to honor long-standing traditions and find some humor following the death of her mother.
“It had to be a food that would be a vehicle to move the story further,” she said. “I don't really know how the miracle happened that I should choose tamales. But it was a perfect vehicle.”
Mena said audience members resonate with the play’s main theme of trying to preserve traditions that could easily fade from generation to generation.
She said many San Antonians have made their own traditions to go see the play year after year.
“We met them when their kids were little, and the suegra, now she’s passed away,” she said. “The kids are in college. They're bringing their own kids. The audience is like part of our family.”
Performances of “Las Nuevas Tamalaras” will take place at the Carver Community Cultural Center from Dec. 8-11.
Click here for a full list of show times or to buy tickets.
Watch the opening scene of the play:
