The figurine of the baby Jesus hidden in the bread represents the flight of the Holy Family, fleeing from Herod the Great's Massacre of the Innocents. Whoever finds the baby Jesus figurine is blessed and must take the figurine to the nearest church on Candlemas Day or host a party that day.
A small plastic figurine is placed inside the Rosca bread prior to cutting, this figurine represents baby Jesus. It is considered to be good luck if the figurine is in the slice you receive.
When a king cake is served at a Mardi Gras celebration, everyone wants to know who was served the slice with the baby—but what does it mean if you find one? Tradition dictates that finding the baby in your cake symbolizes luck and prosperity, and the finder becomes the "king" or "queen" of the evening.
Rosca de Reyes is a traditional bread enjoyed by Christians to commemorate El Día de Los Tres Reyes Magos or Three Kings' Day. It honors the day the Three Kings visited the newborn Jesus, and officially ends the holiday season in Mexico and in Latin America.
Catholics celebrate the Magi's arrival on January 6th, known as “the Epiphany,” and Rosca de Reyes is a bready dessert eaten on this feast day, during which many also receive gifts. Rosca de Reyes tends to be tender enough on day one but the sweet bread petrifies at a startling rate.
The bejeweled-looking bread is meant to symbolize the gifts given to baby Jesus, and inside the bread is a little plastic baby, symbolizing the newborn messiah. If you get the baby in your slice, you have to cook tamales for everyone on Feb. 2, or Candelaria Day.
The traditional bread is enjoyed in Mexico to commemorate the arrival of the Three Wise Men to see baby Jesus after his birth and it officially ends the holiday season in Latin America. The Rosca de Reyes was brought to Mexico about 150 years ago from Europe.
Pan de muerto is an essential part of a Día de los Muertos home altar or shrine, also called an ofrenda. The bread adorns the altar openly or in a basket, and is meant to nourish the dead when they return to the land of the living during Día de los Muertos.
The Day of the dead bread called Pan de Muertos is prepared all around Mexico in the last days of October and the first days of November and is one of the elements used in the altars set to honor the souls during the Day of the dead celebrations. The bread symbolizes a fraternal offering to the souls.
The sweet Mexican bread is put on altars to honor, remember and feed dead family members crossing over on Día de los Muertos.
A miniature plastic baby, which symbolizes baby Jesus, is placed inside of each cake to signify the Epiphany. The person who gets the slice that contains the baby is known as the king.
By depicting Jesus as a child, the tradition of the Infant of Prague also emphasizes His humanity, and how we are children of God because of the salvation that He brings us.
The magi knelt down for the baby Jesus and “offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” Their gifts are possibly an allusion to Isaiah's vision of nations rendering tribute to Jerusalem: “A multitude of camels shall cover you.
The three gifts had a spiritual meaning: gold as a symbol of kingship on earth, frankincense (an incense) as a symbol of deity, and myrrh (an embalming oil) as a symbol of death. This dates back to Origen in Contra Celsum: "gold, as to a king; myrrh, as to one who was mortal; and incense, as to a God."
It plays an integral role in our daily life and is a symbol of culture, history, hunger, wealth, war, and peace. It is indispensable and has been key in human survival. Bread created the structure of modern day society and gave order to our way of living.
First, manna is miraculous bread from heaven, given by the Lord Himself. God tells Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you.” Manna was not ordinary bread. It was heavenly bread given by the Lord Himself and provided anew every day.
Biblical account
For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."
Yes, bread is an important part of Goan life. We know this because the important festivals of Goanese can't be celebrated without bol and sweet bread. Bolinhas need to be prepared during Christmas and other festivals. The Mothers used to prepare sandwiches on the occasion of their daughter's engagement.
In the most basic symbolism of the sacrament, the bread is Jesus' flesh, the water is his blood, and by eating his flesh and drinking his blood we are merging ourselves with him. When we take both the bread and the water we are taking part in both Christ's divine and immortal being and in his human and mortal being.
The Power of Christ's Resurrection
As regards the Resurrection, Paul asked, “Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?” (1 Corinthians 15:29). We are baptized for the dead because we know that they will rise.
Tradition dictates that whoever finds the baby must bring tamales to the Feb. 2 celebration of Dia de la Candelaria, or Candlemas Day. In very large roscas, multiple babies are hidden in the cake, resulting in more tamales and a bigger party. Rosca was featured in our December cover story about holiday foods from afar.
Traditionally, on January 6th, the Rosca is cut and dispersed among family, friends, or co-workers. Each person who is participating is given a piece. Whoever gets the plastic toy in their piece is tasked with throwing La Fiesta de La Candelaria.
Along with enjoying a delicious sweet bread, we always anticipated who would be the “lucky” ones to get baby Jesus in their rosca as Mexican bakeries usually add at least three plastic baby Jesus figurines baked into the bread.
A rotating savings and credit association (ROSCA) is a group of individuals who together act as an informal financial institution. A ROSCA uses a common fund to which individuals contribute a set amount on a regular basis (usually monthly), while one member withdraws the funds at each meeting.
They leave their best pair of shoes, sparkling clean, outside their doors to be filled with gifts. Again, just like with Father Christmas, Spanish children write letters to the Three Wise Men before the big day and leave out snacks and drinks for their camels.