Caritas for Tantawawas
Regular price
€2,99
Bolivianita.de offers original Caritas (Tantawawa masks) from Bolivia in different variants and sizes. Simply choose your preferred design.
A recipe for the bread (Tantawawa) can be found further down the page.
Tantawawas: The bread that serves as a connection between the living and the dead.
The Bolivian bread is traditionally decorated with Caritas, various colorful masks that are placed on the dough and baked together.
The Caritas can be reused multiple times if they are carefully cleaned after consuming the bread.
In the streets of Bolivia, especially in La Paz, you can already see the preparations for the festival Todos Santos (All Saints) a few days before November 1st. The bakers are already getting ready for the big day – and many shops rent out ovens where families will bake various pastries: bread pieces in the shape of stairs, crosses, stars, horses, or birds serve as symbolic offerings to welcome the spirits of the dead, who visit the world of the living every year on November 1st.
In the Andean region, tradition holds that the souls of the deceased visit the living at noon on November 1st to accompany their relatives for a few hours. Afterwards, they return to their new resting place with everything that was offered there.
For this reason, it is common for relatives to set up a large table for the arrival of the deceased's soul and place their favorite foods on it, along with the photo and name of the absent person. On the table, which also serves as an altar, everything is placed – from staple foods like bread shapes to dishes specially prepared for the deceased.
For the visit of the souls, the living must prepare some things, such as bread in the shape of a ladder, which serves for their descent and subsequent return to the place from which they came – or horses, which are believed to help the spirits transport all the gifts given to them during their visit.
T'antawawas: The bread that serves as a link between the living and the dead
With just a few days to go until November 1st, the hustle and bustle of the Todos Santos festival is noticeable in the streets of Bolivia, especially in La Paz, such as the setting up of bakery fairs and the renting of ovens where families go to bake the various doughs. Bread pieces shaped like ladders, crosses, stars, horses, or birds serve as symbolic mediations to welcome the spirits of the dead who visit the world of the living every November 1st, according to Andean tradition for the days of Todos Santos and the Faithful Departed.
In the Andean region, tradition indicates that at noon on November 1st, the souls of the deceased visit the living to accompany their relatives for a few hours, after which they return to where they came from with everything that was offered to them.
For this reason, it is common for the family to set up a large table for the arrival of the deceased's soul and place their favorite foods on it, along with the photo and name of the absent person. On the table, which also serves as an altar, basic foods such as bread shapes are placed, as well as dishes specially prepared for the deceased.
The visit of the souls requires some elements that the living must provide, such as the bread in the shape of a ladder, which serves for their descent and subsequent return to the place from where they came, or the horses that are believed to help the spirits transport all the gifts that were given to them during their visit.
Tantawawa Recipe
Zutaten:
2 cups of wheat flour
½ cup panela/raw sugar
¼ cup soft butter
1 cube of dry yeast
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon of ground anise or 1 package of anise tea
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
150 ml water
2 eggs + 1 egg yolk
Zubereitung:
- 1 cube of yeast (42 g) together with a teaspoon of sugar in a cup with 150 ml of lukewarm water and let sit for 10 minutes.
- 1 teaspoon of anise to add. Alternatively, you can prepare 1 small glass of anise tea for the anise flavor, let it steep for 5 minutes, and add it.
- Add 1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon powder and stir well.
- 2 cups of wheat flour and 1/2 cup of panela/brown sugar (alternatively: white sugar) into a bowl.
- 1/2 teaspoon of cloves ground to powder in a mortar and added to the bowl along with 2 eggs and ¼ cup of softened butter. Now add the cup with the yeast-anise-cinnamon mixture. For flavor, add a few drops of vanilla essence.
- Knead the dough well for about 10 minutes and then let it rest covered for 30 minutes so that the dough can rise peacefully.
- Form the dough into 3 equal-sized balls. Now it's time to get creative!
- Roll the dough balls flat with a rolling pin and shape them into the three desired Tantawawa figures.
- The Caritas mask should be carefully adjusted on the head of the shaped figure by gently pressing it into the dough. However, be sure to remove the mask before baking; it will only be placed back on the bread after baking!
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- 1 Brush the dough pieces with egg yolk. Bake at 180°C for 30 minutes.
- Put the appropriate mask/caritas on the finished Tantawawa.
