Easter mona
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Easter mona (Spanish: Mona de Pascua; Catalan: Mona de Pasqua) is a kind of cake that is specially eaten on Easter Sunday or Easter Monday in the Spanish regions of Catalonia, Valencia and Murcia.[1]
It is related to similar traditional Easter traditions in Spain and Europe.
The first mention of a sweet mona date back to the 15th century incunable Trobes en lahors de la Verge Maria,[2] and in 1783 the Royal Spanish Academy defined it as: "Valencia and Murcia. Cake baked with eggs in their shell at Easter, known in other parts of the Iberian Peninsula as Hornazo".[3][4] There are several hypotheses about the origin of the term:[5][6]
- Munda: in the Latin plural of mundum, banners offered by the Romans to Ceres during April, containing candy and decorating.
- Muna: in ancient Arabic منى, a land tax in the form of an offering of cakes, boiled eggs or other agricultural products, literally meaning "gift" or "provision of the mouth".
- Munichia: celebration dedicated to Artemis in ancient Greece.
The tradition is also traced back to feasts that Roman shepherds celebrated with cakes or the Beltane, a Celtic festival that was celebrated in the month of May and where pastries with eggs were consumed.
Production and varieties
Traditionally, the Easter mona has been a round cake like made with a hard-boiled eggs on top cooked along with the mona, but nowadays, in most parts of Catalonia the eggs have been replaced by chocolate eggs or figures till became the focus of the mona. However, in Valencia and Murcia the traditional recipe has not changed and even there are places where the monas are typical all year, without the hard-boiled egg on it, often under different names such as tonya, panou, pa socarrat, panquemado or coca bova, among other alternatives.[6]
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