Editor’s Note: Quotes in this article appear first in the original spoken Spanish and then in translated English.
Pueden encontrar la versión en españolaquí.
In Venezuela, there’s a traditional Christmas dish known as hallacas. They’re something like a tamale.
For the millions of Venezuelans who’ve fled their country — including more than 10,000 in Utah — it’s a holiday dish they’ll be preparing far from their homeland and relatives.
Since they left Venezuela six years ago, Yesenia Castejon and her family have played the song “Tu Amor para Navidad” by Simón every Christmas. Even when they lived in Chile and now South Jordan, Utah, where they moved three months ago.
Yesenia sang along while she began to prepare the hallacas for Christmas. It’s a song about being away from family during the holiday, and her relatives are spread across the world. But they all keep up the hallaca tradition.
“Mientras ellos están preparándolas, nosotros también las estamos preparando. Colocamos música y así hablamos mientras lo estamos haciendo. Y con la distancia, pues en la pantallita nos estamos viendo, y así nos sentimos un poco más cerca”.
“While they’re preparing it, we are too,” she said. “We put on music, and we talk while we’re doing it. Even from a distance, we see each other on the little screen and like that — we feel a little closer.”
As she cuts mushrooms, Yesenia’s 17-year-old daughter Valeria said she doesn’t know if she’ll ever return to Venezuela.
“Siento que el futuro de los migrantes es bastante incierto”.
“I feel like the future is very uncertain for migrants,” she said.
Valeria’s father, Anaxímenes Chirinos, said the family left Venezuela because it’s unsafe, unstable and crime is high.
“No hay manera de defender los derechos que uno tiene. Si uno no simpatiza con el estado, con el gobierno, entonces ya uno es como un enemigo del estado”.
“There’s no way to defend your rights. If you don’t sympathize with the state, with the government, then you’re an enemy of the state.”
They left when their youngest daughter, Letizia, was only 2, so he wants to make sure he passes traditions down to her. Now 8 years old, Letizia is in charge of cutting the banana leaves that will wrap the hallacas. So far, she likes Utah.
“Te sientes mejor así, como sabiendo que estás en un lugar tranquilo y pudiendo pasar una Navidad”.
“It feels better here, knowing it’s a peaceful place to spend Christmas,” she said.
A recipe wasn’t needed as Yesenia cooked, because it was all in her head. Normally, it’s a dish made with meat, but they do a vegetarian version. She tossed bell peppers of all colors — yellow, green, red — into a blender with cilantro and eggplant. As the vegetables sizzled in the frying pan, Yesenia said hallacas reminded her of her mother back home.
“Hay una canción de Venezuela que dice que ‘la mejor hallaca la hace mi mamá.’ Trato de imitar a la hallaca de mi mamá, pero nunca me queda igual”.
“There’s a Venezuelan song that says ‘the best hallaca is made by my mom.’ I try to imitate my mom’s hallaca, but it never turns out the same,” she laughed.
“Aunque ella siempre me dice, ‘hija, pero el alumno siempre supera al maestro’, y le digo no, no, no, en este caso, no”.
“Even though she always tells me, ‘but the student always surpasses the master.’ And I tell her, ‘no, no, no, in this case, no.’” Yesenia laughed again.
Once the filling was done, she poured water and corn flour into a big, plastic bowl. Then she mixed and squished it together by hand to make the dough, or masa. To assemble the hallacas, they first oiled up a banana leaf. Then plopped a ball of masa on top.
“Extendemos la masa bien extendidita. Delgadita, delgadita, delgadita, lo más que se puede”.
“We spread the dough out nice and flat,” Yesenia said. “Thin, thin, thin, as much as possible.”
That way the masa won’t overpower the other flavors. Then came the vegetable filling along with a couple of green olives. Then it’s wrapped up with the banana leaf.
As Yesenia closed it, Letizia yelled, “¡Mámi!”
She had cut out heart shapes from the banana leaf scraps and wanted them to go inside each hallaca. Yesenia placed a heart on top and said, “¡Ay, qué bonita!”
Letizia got upset anytime someone forgot. But then her sister got it right, and Letizia told Valeria that she was proud of her. With the matter-of-fact way she said it, everyone laughed – a lot.
Letizia said she’s going to do the hearts again next year.
“Ahora es una nueva tradición”.
“Now it’s a new tradition.”
Anaxímenes’ job is to tie up each hallaca with string so they don’t fall apart while they cook in boiling water. He felt a lot of mixed emotions as he made them. Back in Venezuela, they would make 150 hallacas. But for their first Christmas in Utah, they only made about 25.
The family blew on the steaming hallacas before taking the first bite. Eating them took Anaxímenes back to Venezuela and Yesenia agreed.
“Definitivamente es eso, volver, transportarte a Venezuela”.
“Definitely it’s that, going back, transporting yourself to Venezuela,” she said.
