Rosca- sweet circular bread with an empty middle

My informant is a first-generation American, so obviously there will be dishes carried over into his generation from the generation of his parents.  My informant’s mother is Mexican, while his father is Panamanian and Danish.  “Rosca” is a Mexican pastry that looks like a donut, and inside of it is something very sweet.  He first heard of this dish from his parents when he started speaking Spanish at the age of 2 or 3 because this dish has been served ever since he was born.  This is the fourth generation that celebrated the holiday in which “rosca” has been served.

This dish is served on “La Dia de Los Tres Reyes” (The Day of the Three Kings), which celebrates the arrival of the three wise men that showed up for Jesus’s birth.  According to my informant, inside the circular bread is a baby Jesus and whoever finds it has to throw the party for the next year.  This is a tradition that my informant hopes will be carried on through future generations.

The reason why this dish is so important in my informant’s world today is because he has a lot of pride in his culture.  Being the first man from his family born in America, my informant feels it is important to carry over the roots of his family’s culture into his American culture.  When I asked my informant what he thought about the dish and the party thrown on “The Day of the Kings,” he said it is “a lot of fun and it is a good way to get the family together.  It is also an enjoyable meal because it only happens once a year.”

From talking to my informant, I really feel as though he is extremely dedicated to his culture and family.  He believes that family and tradition are two important values in his life, and without them he would feel empty.  This shows me that my informant is religious, but at the same time, is just following his culture and enjoying the time he has every year with his family.