31/03/2024
🍫 La Mona de Pascua 🐣
why this tradition?
With the arrival of Christianity, this tradition was incorporated into the Holy Week. In fact, it is said that the ancient Christians used to bless the eggs collected since the beginning of Ash Wednesday in order to give them to their loved ones on Easter day, symbolising fertility and the beginning of a new cycle.
Over time, the tradition evolved and gave rise to a brioche-type cake (also known as 'cristina' or rolled dough), round and topped with hard-boiled eggs. There are references from the 14th century to the first "Monas" in Catalonia, Murcia and the Valencian Country. It was in the 16th century that cocoa from America was introduced.
Around the 20th century, the "Mona" began to be given as a gift by godparents to their godchildren and consisted of a cake in the shape of a tortel (a large ring) crowned with hard-boiled eggs, as many eggs as the age of the godson, up to a maximum of 12, the age at which he would take communion.
oday we understand this tradition through Easter eggs and bunnies, but this has not always been the case. Chocolate figures began to be introduced in Europe at the beginning of the 19th century thanks to the Italians, French and Germans who made chocolate eggs with gifts inside.
This tradition took root in the Peninsula and, to this day, godparents give their godchildren a "Mona de Pascua", normally made up of a cake and a chocolate figure. The most traditional figures are usually Easter eggs, then bunnies and chickens. This tradition is especially important in Catalonia, and also in the Valencian Country and Murcia.
These figures have evolved over time thanks to the creativity and know-how of the master chocolatiers, the great guarantors that this beautiful tradition is maintained with renewed and ingenious figures that delight the palate and make the imaginations of our little ones' and (not so little) godchildren fly.
