The art of making tamales during the holidays is a tradition that many Mexican families in the Texas and all over the world hold near and dear to their heart. It’s a tradition passed down from generation to generation.
“It's not just about cooking,” said Patricia Ortiz. “It's more a way of connecting to our roots.”
Ortiz remembers making tamales every year with her family, ever since she was a child. She feared that if traditions like these aren’t continued, they could eventually disappear. So she called up several of her friends who had the similar experience of making tamales growing up.
Thus, las tamaleras was born.
For a decade, Ortiz and a group of North Texas women have been meeting in her Mesquite home to make tamales this time of year.
“Just remembering the women in our family, in the kitchen, making the meals with such care and joy, I think it's priceless,” she said. “And now here we are, reliving those memories.”
Over jovial banter and the sharing of stories, chisme — or gossip — and family histories, they take their tamal-making seriously. The multi-generational group of women makes about 500 tamales each year, which they then get to take home to their families.
Melinda Kirkpatrick is one of the leaders of the group. She said each woman has a different role in the assembly line — someone spreads the masa on the corn husk, another puts in pork or chicken or beans, and finally, someone puts it in a large olla to cook.
The preparation starts days in advance. Kirpatrick boils 15 to 25 pounds of meat seasoned with oregano, black pepper, cumin, chile ancho, and other spices.
The women get together on a Saturday every year and begin with a sit-down dinner in preparation for the rigorous tamal making they’re about to partake in.
Assembling the tamales can take several hours, depending on how many the group is making.
For Kirkpatrick, making tamales is not only keeping a family tradition alive, but a way of bringing family together. She and her four sisters taught their children, now grown with children of their own.
“It's a tradition in the Christmas holiday to bring us together and remind us of who we are and where we came from,” Kirkpatrick said. “Whenever we're having trouble in the family or my girls are feeling bad or anybody is feeling stressed, we always have to remind each other who you are, where did you come from, and it works.”
Mary Montemayor, who has been part of the group for the last five years, said she enjoys making tamales with buena gente , but it's also a way of connecting to her past.
“I think because you get to talk about your ancestors and share experiences that you had with them,” she said, "you feel like you keep them alive.”
For Ortiz’ daughter-in-law Martha Ortiz, the youngest of the group, the experience is new to her. This year was only the second time she’d joined the tamal-making sessions — something she never did growing up.
“I'm still a newbie. I'm learning,” she said. “I feel very honored and I feel like it's special to be included and to learn from everyone here to learn how to make them. I love to eat them and it's great to learn how to make them.”
Tamalera Teresa Ovalles said she associates the tradition with her grandfather Felipe Velez, who she said had a business in the Little Mexico neighborhood in Dallas.
She said his convenience store was near one of the oldest parks in the city, Pike Park.
“When he had his convenience store, we would make tamales,” Ovalles said. “He would get all of us. And he had a long table like this, and he had benches on each side, so all the grandkids were helping.”
Ortiz said every year, something magical happens as the women share pieces of their memories of making tamales, and of the women who raised them.
That’s what food is, Kirkpatrick said — memories.
"Food is happiness. Food sometimes brings sorrow because you remember what you were eating when something happened," she said. "But mostly, food is happiness. Food is memories.”
Priscilla Rice is KERA’s communities reporter. Got a tip? Email her at price@kera.org.
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