In the State of Guerrero, the tradition is: Every Thursday is Pozole Day. Pozole is a Mexican hominy soup/stew garnished with avocado, onions, pork or chicken, pork rinds, lettuce, chillies and a number of other spices and toppings. You can have red, green or white pozole. We had green. Si es jueves en Guerrero, es el pozole.
I found the Santa Prisca Restaurant in Zihuatanejo online and read up on Pozole Day. One post said it's like a religion, meaning customers flock to the restaurant on Thursdays, like faithful Catholics attend Mass on Sundays. I decided to check out the origins of Pozole, and found some outrageous history in Wikipedia. "Since maize was a sacred plant for the Aztecs and other inhabitants of Mesoamerica, pozole was made to be consumed on special occasions. The conjunction of maize (usually whole hominy kernels) and meat in a single dish is of particular interest to scholars because the ancient Americans believed the gods made humans out of masa (cornmeal dough). According to research by the National Institute of Anthropology and History and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, on these special occasions, the meat used in the pozole was human. After the prisoners were killed by having their hearts torn out in a ritual sacrifice, the rest of the body was chopped and cooked with maize. The meal was shared among the whole community as an act of religious communion. After the Conquest, when cannibalism was banned, pork became the staple meat as it "tasted very similar", according to a Spanish priest." Who would have thought it! You just can't make this stuff up!
I found the Santa Prisca Restaurant in Zihuatanejo online and read up on Pozole Day. One post said it's like a religion, meaning customers flock to the restaurant on Thursdays, like faithful Catholics attend Mass on Sundays. I decided to check out the origins of Pozole, and found some outrageous history in Wikipedia. "Since maize was a sacred plant for the Aztecs and other inhabitants of Mesoamerica, pozole was made to be consumed on special occasions. The conjunction of maize (usually whole hominy kernels) and meat in a single dish is of particular interest to scholars because the ancient Americans believed the gods made humans out of masa (cornmeal dough). According to research by the National Institute of Anthropology and History and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, on these special occasions, the meat used in the pozole was human. After the prisoners were killed by having their hearts torn out in a ritual sacrifice, the rest of the body was chopped and cooked with maize. The meal was shared among the whole community as an act of religious communion. After the Conquest, when cannibalism was banned, pork became the staple meat as it "tasted very similar", according to a Spanish priest." Who would have thought it! You just can't make this stuff up!
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