This article is part of The Power of Us, a series running across Hearst Magazines that celebrates the deep and profound ways that Hispanic and Latinx culture has shaped America. To see the complete portfolio, visit OprahDaily.com.
Every holiday season, my Cuban family does our best to get together — sometimes it’s just my immediate family, sometimes it’s a dozen aunts, uncles and my abuelita. Like many Hispanic and Latinx families living in the U.S., we relish our traditions. We may no longer live in the places where we were born or where our families come from, but the holidays are the perfect time to showcase our culture.
Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) is an especially important time for us. My mother and I prepare the turkey according to my grandmother’s instructions, by stuffing minced garlic under the skin and pouring naranja agria (a bitter orange marinade) all over it. Meanwhile, my brother and cousin help prepare the side dishes, working diligently to make everyone’s favorite arroz congri (black beans and rice where the rice is cooked in black bean water to give it that distinct dark brown color). And my uncle has his own tradition — he naps on the couch, usually with at least one of our cats snuggled on his chest. Finally, after hours of cooking, we’ll gather around the table late into the evening, eat our mix of Cuban and American dishes and then count the minutes until we all get to open presents right as the clock strikes midnight.
Like many Hispanic and Latinx people, I love the holiday season because it’s filled with special memories of sharing traditions old and new. Below, six inspiring Latinas share their favorite moments from the holidays, the dishes that always grace their table and their favorite moments of celebrating the holidays with their familia.
Camila Alves McConaughey
Camila Alves McConaughey, who was born in Brazil and raised there until she was 15, is a lifestyle expert, entrepreneur and founder of Women of Today — an online community aimed at building connection around family, food, fashion, wellness, home and more. She often shares her expertise on The Today Show, The Talk and the Rachael Ray Show.
Sandy Leibowitz
Sandy Leibowitz, who is of Colombian, Argentine, and Jewish descent, is an online cooking instructor who was trained at the Culinary Institute of America and has been cooking professionally for over 12 years. She is also the food blogger behind Plantains and Challah, where she teaches home chefs how to cook without recipes by focusing on technique.
Karla Solorzano
Karla Solorzano, who was born in Venezuela and has Costa Rican family, is known as the Latina Wedding Planner. Featured in Brides, The Knot, and El Pitazo TV (en español!), Karla is the Founder of Kiss & Say I Do Events.
María de La Luz Robledo
María de La Luz Robledo was born in Michoacán, Mexico. After meeting her now ex-husband Reynaldo, a fellow vineyard worker, they founded Robledo Family Winery in 1997 in Sonoma Valley, California. Today, the vineyard is run by the family (including María’s nine children, like daughter Vanessa who acted as translator).
Question One
When and how do the holidays begin for you?
Alejandra Ramos
“The holiday season for me begins with Thanksgiving. What’s really beautiful about the way we celebrate Thanksgiving is something that is true for a lot of Latinx people — and a lot of people of varied backgrounds — in that we have a combination of dishes from our ancestors and our families that we grew up with, along with the more traditional dishes.”
Camila Alves McConaughey
Growing up in Brazil, we celebrated Christmas on the 24th at midnight. It’s really important to keep that culture alive in our family. It’s a big holiday for us Brazilians. I make a beautiful table. The kids help and the family helps. We all sit down and spend time together, talk about the year, the things that we accomplished, the things that we had challenges with and the meaning of Christmas. And then right after dinner, we open gifts!”
Sandy Leibowitz
“For us, the holidays really start with Rosh Hashanah, which is the Jewish New Year. For me, it starts with personal reflection. And menu planning! Food is a huge part of this holiday and there’s a lot of symbolic food. That’s how I start and then it really carries through the rest of the holidays, like Hanukkah in the winter months.”
Erika Batista
“To me, the holidays begin right after Halloween. I host Thanksgiving every year, so that’s when we start prepping. Over the years, Thanksgiving has become my favorite holiday because I love the food. I used to love Christmas as a child, but as an adult, you realize that it’s so much about the gifts. Now, I love that Thanksgiving focuses on family, food and enjoying that time together.”
Karla Solorzano
“When I was back in Venezuela, we had a certain type of music that we listened to. They’re called gaitas — one of my favorites is Tamborera #9 by Gran Coquivacoa. They first start in October in Venezuela. That, for us, is the start of the holidays. Now that I am here, I start playing the gaitas so that I can get into the mood without taking away from where I come from.”
María de La Luz Robledo and daughter Vanessa
“For us, Thanksgiving is the start of the holidays because it’s right after harvest. After we have brought in the grapes, this is a symbol of giving thanks to our crop and for what we received and worked so hard for during the year. [María] grew up in a little village in Mexico where they celebrated birthdays with turkey and mole. So when she came to the United States, she decided instead of using gravy, she’d use mole with the turkey. And she created her own stuffing, using a spicy Mexican sausage that has pepper in it, along with bacon, chorizo, the cooked neck of the turkey, some vegetables, and cornbread stuffing, then adds her homemade seasoning.”
Question Two
What was your favorite holiday tradition growing up and how are you carrying it on today?
Alejandra Ramos
“We’ll usually go to my parents’ house on Christmas Eve. We’ll have a late meal since we celebrate Noche Buena. We’ll start dinner at 8:30 or 9 and we’ll go for a few hours, just sit at the table and eat multiple courses of food — with pernil, arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas), and either tostones or mofongo (or mofongo stuffing). There’s always a salad and a few vegetable sides, and usually some kind of seafood dish like camarones al ajillo (shrimp in garlic sauce) or camarones enchilados (similar to shrimp creole). Then, as it gets closer to midnight, we’ll open presents and usually stay up until two or three in the morning.”
Camila Alves McConaughey
“I grew up in a really large family and my grandfather used to dress up as Santa Claus. My brother and I were the oldest grandkids and, pretty soon, we figured out that Santa Claus was my grandfather dressing up. As soon as I understood that, I would go earlier during the night and I would get dressed up in his costume. I would fold the sleeves and the hem. It would be huge on me, but I made it work. Then, I would take candy and toys, and give them to the kids that lived in the streets of Brazil. Now, my kids save up money throughout the year and then, before Christmas, we buy things for kids in need in Brazil, Africa and here in the United States, as well. That’s our version of what my grandfather did for our family, being able to do that for others, and trying to instill that in my kids today.”
Sandy Leibowitz
“Every Friday night, we light candles for Shabbat. It’s the day of rest for the Sabbath. My family was never very observant when I was growing up but that is one thing that has remained consistent. And I do it now, with my daughters, every Friday. I feel that it’s really grounding and a really big tradition for us.”
Erika Batista
“My favorite tradition as a little girl was opening gifts at midnight on the 24th, when we lived in Ecuador. Today, since we usually spend Christmas Eve at my family’s house, the kids get to open gifts from the tias (aunts) and cousins at midnight on the 24th but we incorporate our American culture by opening gifts from Santa and mom and dad on the morning of the 25th. I love that my children get a little bit of both. For New Year’s Eve, we never miss the 12 grapes to welcome the 12 months of the New Year — the grapes signify 12 wishes or goals that you want to manifest for the New Year. So at midnight, we start eating our grapes after saying ‘Happy New Year!’ to each family member. My mom always used to do this thing, where she would wear red or yellow underwear. Red symbolizes love for the New Year and yellow is for prosperity. It’s still something that we do every year because we have so much fun with it.”
Karla Solorzano
“We have a special dish that is called hallacas made with corn dough stuffed with chicken, beef or pork and other flavorings that’s then wrapped in plantain leaves and boiled. It’s like a whole process to make them, so when I was young, all the sisters and my mom and everybody would form a production line to get them done and we would play the holiday music. That was always my favorite because we were all together.”
María de La Luz Robledo and daughter Vanessa
“For Christmas, my mom’s favorite is cooking the tamales. One of her favorite things is for all of the women in our family to come together to create them. We all go to my mom’s house and she cooks, sometimes three turkeys. I have seven brothers, one sister and then there are 27 grandchildren. My mom makes the molé sauce. My brothers carve the turkey. And then we all have rice, and sometimes mashed potatoes, with the turkey. And so it’s like a mix of the American culture with my mom’s heritage comes together on that day.”
Question Three
Food is such an important part of Hispanic and Latinx culture. What is your favorite must-have holiday dish?
Alejandra Ramos
“We have pernil — which is Puerto Rican pork shoulder – but we also have turkey. And we will have cranberry sauce but we’ll also have mofongo (a dish made with fried plantains). Cranberry sauce is a fantastic match with the pernil because of the acidity of the cranberry sauce and the fattiness of the pork. I think it works even better than with turkey. It’s this really wonderful, kind of varied menu that includes dishes that my parents grew up with and that we grew up eating because of them. And then also dishes that are typically served in the United States for Thanksgiving. One standout Christmas beverage we enjoy is coquito (similar to eggnog). When I was growing up, my mom used to make it, but now I make a regular version and a non-alcoholic version. I’ll usually make a big batch and we give them as gifts.”
Camila Alves McConaughey
“My favorite Christmas dish is lombo con abacaxi (pork loin with pineapple slices in between). My mouth is watering just thinking about it. My mom makes the most amazing one. I also love Brazilian-style rice. You cook the rice, and then you put all kinds of yummy stuff in it — like ham, olives, raisins, all kinds of things. Then you put cheese in between and cheese on top, and you bake it. It’s a really great combination of salty, savory and sweet. But my kids’ favorite Brazilian dish is chicken stroganoff, the Brazilian way, which is typically served with potato sticks over white rice. It’s not a traditional Christmas dish but, in my household, it has become one because my kids ask for it every Christmas.”
Sandy Leibowitz
“For Rosh Hashanah, because it’s the Jewish New Year, there’s a lot of symbolism and a lot of foods that would symbolize a sweet New Year, as we call it. So that would be chicken with some dried fruits, apples that we dip in honey and we even take the Challah bread and we dip that in honey. It’s like a new start to a new year. For Hanukkah, it’s traditional to eat things fried in oil. So I’ll always have latkes, which are potato pancakes. Recently, I used plantains to make the potato pancakes and they came out insanely delicious. So crispy and delicious!”
Erika Batista
“We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in Ecuador but all of my family is here now. So over the years, we’ve mixed our own dishes with more American dishes. One of them is sweet potato mash with marshmallow. We also include Ecuadorean green rice, which is basically cilantro rice with green pepper. It’s literally green and it’s delicious. We love that mix of foods from different countries.”
Karla Solorzano
My favorite holiday dish is the hallacas but I don’t make it myself here because it is too much work. So I’m lucky that, here in California, I can go and buy them at a local restaurant during Christmas. I also buy pan de jamon. It’s like a cinnamon bread but savory, with ham and olives. That’s very Venezuelan. So I always bring a little bit of Venezuela to my Christmas celebrations here.”
María de La Luz Robledo and daughter Vanessa
“During the holidays, my mom is always cooking. One of the dishes she likes is chiles rellenos, which are peppers stuffed with three different types of cheese, rice and steak. But she’s cooking non-stop. The holidays are the downtime in our business, so that’s when she likes to entertain the most.”
Question Four
What does your favorite day during the holidays look like?
Alejandra Ramos
“My favorite time during the holidays are those in-between days in late December where we sleep in, have breakfast and hang out with my parents most of the day. We’ll be curled up on the couch with a fireplace on and reading books or playing with whatever new toy or gadgets we got as gifts and hanging out with the dog. It’s very much this sort of quiet, lazy moment where the world shuts down a little, we’re not on email, we’re not working. We’re just relaxed and enjoying each other’s company, getting to be at home in the warmth of the season.”
Camila Alves McConaughey
“My favorite day is when we put up the Christmas tree together. We go to get the tree and then we put out all of the ornaments that we have been saving throughout the years. First, we put out the old ornaments and then see what broke. We still have ornaments that the kids made when they were little. We have ornaments from our trips. We choose a theme and then use that to shop for new ornaments to replace the ones we’ve lost, so the tree is different every year. We like to cherish the stories and memories that each ornament has, as the years go by. I love it because we spend hours as a family putting the tree together and talking about the meaning of Christmas.”
Sandy Leibowitz
“My favorite day has to be during Passover. It’s such a big preparation because it’s a big holiday that lasts for eight days. We’re all surrounding the table, it’s set beautifully, and all my family’s there. We have all of these symbolic foods at the table that signify our history. The food that makes Passover so special for me is the chicken matzah ball soup and brisket. They are such homey dishes and bring me comfort. I sometimes change up the way I prepare the brisket, but the matzah balls are tradition — just the way my mom makes them! We take turns reading from the Haggadah, the prayer book, during the Seder. I just love that moment.”
Erika Batista
“We host Thanksgiving, so I wake up the kids and everyone helps in the kitchen. My husband will peel the sweet potatoes. The kids help with the bean salad. My daughter loves making the sweet potato mash. My son washes the rice for the green rice. So we’re all in the kitchen in the morning in our pajamas. Then by noon, we’re getting ready to host our family. Everybody helps set the table. Then the rest of my family gets there, and it’s a full house of kids playing, just a nice, warm time at home.”
Karla Solorzano
“My favorite day is Christmas Eve. I usually play my favorite gaitas, because that’s what I used to do when I was in Venezuela. In the States, I have Costa Rican family. I get there early, and I help them with the Costa Rican food. There are always at least four of us in the kitchen helping, making empanadas, arroz con pollo, plantains, pork and chicharrón — fried pork belly or pork rinds. And then we’re usually 20 at the celebration on Christmas Eve. When I have the opportunity to be with the Costa Rican side of the family here, I just feel like I have a little bit of home with me.”
María de La Luz Robledo and daughter Vanessa
“[María’s] favorite holiday is the New Year because for us it symbolizes a new cycle on the farm too, when we start preparing for pruning. For us, it’s like saying goodbye to the past year and the past season and welcoming the new one. We pour the family sparkling wine. Every new year, we also have the 12 grapes, [to signify the 12 months of the New Year]. And right at 12 o’clock, we stand at the door with coins and we throw them behind us. Our parents taught this tradition to all nine kids, with the coins representing prosperity in the New Year. Once we throw them behind us at midnight, it means we will expect a bountiful harvest for that year. Then, we go to the table and eat our grapes, making a wish for each grape for a prosperous year.”
If your holiday celebrations involve charitable giving, consider the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, which identifies, inspires, prepares and connects Hispanic and Latinx leaders in the community, classroom and workforce with resources to improve education, leadership, workforce development and public awareness.
Illustrations by Celina Pereira.
