Christmastime without mothers, grandmothers, and the tamales
As COVID-19 ravages families, it threatens a cherished yearly tradition. But many will head to the kitchen and fight on.
Juan Manuel Carrillo, 66, prepares tamales at Tamales Lupita in Canutillo, Texas, on Friday, December, 18, 2020.(Joel Angel Juarez / Special Contributor)
el guisado, slathered in red sauce.
They were like bars of gold.
“Nothing like her red ones just no match,” said Martinez, still grieving over the loss of his mother, Maria Oralia Lugo. She was 56 when she died November 9th of COVID-19. “We’ve lost so many, especially grandmas, grandpas, mothers the ones who are in their 50s, 60s, 70s and up; the ones with the traditions, the secret recipes. They’re the ones getting hit the hardest by the virus.”