Saturday, June 2, 2012

FERIA DEL ALFEÑIQUE

by  Selene Cid Montoya


The alfeñique´s word, it´s Arabic name, it was used to call cooked and stretche sugar, very thin and twisted bars. We call alfeñique´s figures of sugar, that are made especially for Death´s day.

The aztecas made some figures their “ofrenda.” They were the first alfeñiques who knew this sweet.

At each stage of Mexican Republic there are different alfeñique´s sweet:

I have had the opportunity to visit the Candy´s Regional Fair of Toluca known as Alfeñique´s Fair is already a nice tradition in Toluca, the colorful stalls, of the dealers are placed under the “Portales” of Toluca. Generally the fair begins the last week on October and finished on November 3rd or 4th.

The fair is distinguished by the sale and exhibition alfeñique´s sweet. It also has a cultural side like dance, music, theater, shows, concerts, book representations and workshops.

The sweet that gives the name to the fair is the alfeñique figure, that can be mould like casket, skulls, crosses, bones, animals, fruits, angels and animals, there are also Mexican dishes, and I may add, they are different varieties of them like: pumpkin sweet, citron, candied fruit, sugar and amaranth, “charamusca” and so on. These are very traditional on Day of the Death celebration.

Besides sweets you can find all kinds of ornaments of the season, as the famous confetti with figures alluding to the tradition in sizes you could never have imagined!

The sweets are on the other hand a sample of the culture and tradition of many years in Mexico.

I would like to invite you, to know more about this.

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