Two Fabulous Things About the Season Right Now

And I didn't know until this morning!

Tonight in Oaxaca, Mexico, is the celebration of the Noche de Rábanos, the Night of the Radishes. These are BIG radishes - not the little round ones I often slice into my salads. These radishes are easily ten pounds and big enough to be carved.

photo from Rosetta Stone

Ah, the ingenuity! The tradition seems to have begun as a way to attract people at the annual Christmas Eve markets and became an official celebration in 1897.

For three days, artists will have been transforming their freshly dug radishes into religious tableaux and village scenes, historical events and mythical tales. There will be animals and saints and conquistadors, the Virgin Mary and infant Jesus, and even the revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata. (from The Writer’s Almanac)

CNN Travel had a great article about this six years ago and Kristen Kellog of Rosetta Stone has a quick two-minute video from five years ago:

The artistry is stunning. Carvings depict everything from the sacred to everyday life.

The Pieta was photographed by Nikhol Esteras and the group gathering photo comes from Atlas Obscura.

Did you know about this tradition? Better yet, have you ever attended?

The second fabulous thing I learned this morning is JOLABOKAFLOD.

Kate Watson-Smyth explains this tradition in her Substack, Mad About The House. Apparently this “Christmas book flood” (because I can’t tell you how to pronouce it but I can tell you what it means) dates back to 1944 when paper was one of the few commodities not rationed, which made books an affordable gift for this time of year. I think what I like just as much as the giving of books is that they are opened on Christmas Eve and the tradition is to read, relax, and drink hot cocoa. Come on! How fantastic is this??

How I wish I could share this holiday with my mom, as books were always the staple of her gift-giving. Cousins still joke that they never doubted what Aunt Alice was giving them, because it was always a book.

How about you? Do you give books for the Holidays? How will you spend these last two nights before Christmas?