Celebrating Christmas and New Year with Traditional Food, Music, and Drinks: A Cultural and Historical Perspective from Caldas, Colombia

Christmas is one of the most traditional holidays in Christianity, which is usually celebrated with food, music and drinks. Tamales and fresh hand-ground corn custard, the legitimate or traditional one as some people call it; a roncho Viejo de Caldas or a guarilaque Amarillo or Cristal and that is party music or December music as they also call it, where “December 24”, a song composed by Francisco “Mono” González, pioneer of party music, stands out without a doubt. in the voice of Lucy Figueroa from Palmira and performed by “Los Alegres del Valle”. However, the first version was recorded in Mexico (1938) with the duo Pepe and Chabela, great song! And New Year arrived to finally tie in with the Manizales Fair: 20 days of food, music and drinks. During these festivities many people eat, drink, dance and listen to music that pays tribute to our culture. This combination of factors, within the framework of a family gathering, turns that moment into a solemn and sacred space. These intoxicating drinks, so emblematic of our territory, entail identity and are a cultural expression of the merriment inherited from the indigenous people: a time to sow, a time to harvest and a time to celebrate. In the case of Caldas, first it was the drink and then the decanter. Claudia Trujillo Estrada is the author of the only book, with a prologue by Otto Morales Benítez, that has been written about the Liquor Industry of Caldas and that was carried out under the management of Luis José Restrepo Restrepo in 2002. She says that in 1909 The Nation gave the department of Caldas the income and exploitation of the liquor monopoly and in 1919, “El Roncito” emerged, the first rum produced in these lands; Then the Cuban Ramón Badía (1928) appears, author of the current formula of Rum Viejo de Caldas, which would be preserved through the figure of the technician and administrator of the liquor store Juan de la Cruz Gómez and whose name was stamped on the Rum labels. 5 years. 80 years ago (1943) the Caldas Liquor Industry was created, with Alfonso Jaramillo Arango being governor, a mandate under which the University of Caldas and a year later the Caldas Hydroelectric Power Plant were also born. However, the governor’s management would be marred by the national drivers’ strike of 1943 which, sponsored in Manizales by Gilberto Alzate Avendaño, left 4 protesters dead in the market square. At the time of the dismemberment of the department of Caldas, the construction of the current administrative headquarters and production plant of the Licorera was already being planned, since at that time the operations center was located in the Alberto Meza Abadía building in the city of Pereira. They say that in the races, trucks and soldiers of the Ayacucho Battalion helped dismantle everything that was in the old building to bring it quickly to Manizales. La Licorera produces without a doubt the most recognized Rum in the country and abroad, and its name “Viejo de Caldas” fills its inhabitants with pride and identity, in the same way as “Amarillo de Manzanares” does. That is precisely where the Fábrica de Licores de Antioquia made a mistake, attempting to maliciously introduce to the market a liquor that promotes the subculture of avivato and copietas. “As we are hitting hard, we respond to the blow,” were the unfortunate words of the former governor of Antioquia Aníbal Gaviria, in an interview with La W Radio (22122023). Something like the end justifies the means. What a way to compete.

2024-01-08 05:39:28
#Food #music #drinks