Editing Tamale (section)

== Mesoamerica ==

=== Aztec ===
The different forms of tamales eaten and sold in Aztec markets are well documented in the extensive [[Florentine Codex]] written by Reverend [[Bernardino de Sahagún]]. In book X he describes how Aztec tamales used a variety of corn for their flour base and were cooked in earth ovens, or [[Olla (pottery)|olla]], which were heated by the steam of dried cane grown and harvested for the express purpose of cooking tamales. Fillings would consist of meat (turkey, fish, frog, [[axolotl]], gopher), fruit, bean, squash seed, turkey egg and even no filling.<ref name=":5">{{cite web |last=Lawson Gray |first=Andrea |date=Jan 28, 2016 |title=Mexican foodways: Tamales and Candlemas |url=https://mymissiontastesofsf.wordpress.com/2016/01/30/mexican-foodways-tamales-and-candlemas/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710154518/https://mymissiontastesofsf.wordpress.com/2016/01/30/mexican-foodways-tamales-and-candlemas/ |archive-date=July 10, 2017 |access-date=January 30, 2016 |website=My Mission: Tastes of San Francisco}}</ref> They would be seasoned with chilis or seeds if they were savory and honey if they were sweet.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Bray |first=Warwick |date=May 1983 |title=Bernardino de Sahagún: Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain. Book 2. The Ceremonies. Translated by Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1981, $40). Pp. 247. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022216x00009949 |journal=Journal of Latin American Studies |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=252–253 |doi=10.1017/s0022216x00009949 |s2cid=145147744 |issn=0022-216X |access-date=2023-03-03 |archive-date=2024-02-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240210223450/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-latin-american-studies/article/abs/bernardino-de-sahagun-florentine-codex-general-history-of-the-things-of-new-spain-book-2-the-ceremonies-translated-by-arthur-j-o-anderson-and-charles-e-dibble-salt-lake-city-university-of-utah-press-1981-40-pp-247/78503DD2CF99A97287504DA55E0484F5 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Tamales also held great religious and spiritual importance within Aztec culture. It was customary for Aztec women to stay up for two to three days cooking tamales before a wedding. (Codex, Book IX). In terms of festivities, the most notable was [[Uauhquiltamalcualiztli]], which was celebrated during the 18th month of the [[calendar round]]. The name of the celebration translates to 'The Eating of Tamales Stuffed with Amaranth Greens' and was a celebration of the fire deity [[Xiuhtecuhtli|Ixcozauhqui]].<ref name=":3" /> Another significant ritual for the Aztecs was the feast of [[Atamalqualiztli|Atamalcualiztli]] (eating of water tamales). This ritual, held every eight years for a whole week, was done by eating tamales without any seasoning, spices, or filling, which allowed the maize freedom from being overworked in the usual tamale cooking methods.<ref>{{cite book |last=Manuel. |first=Aguilar-Moreno |title=Handbook to life in the Aztec world |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195330830 |location=Oxford |oclc=81150666}}</ref>

[[File:Fenton vase.jpg|thumb|The Fenton Vase]]

=== Maya (pre-Columbian) ===
In the pre-Columbian era, the [[Maya peoples|Mayas]] ate tamales and often served them at feasts and festivals.<ref>{{cite journal |last=LeCount |first=Lisa J. |date=December 2001 |title=Like Water for Chocolate: Feasting and Political Ritual among the Late Classic Maya at Xunantunich, Belize |journal=American Anthropologist |volume=103 |issue=4 |pages=935–953 |doi=10.1525/aa.2001.103.4.935}}</ref> The [[Classic Maya]] hieroglyph for tamales has been identified on pots and other objects dating back to the [[Mesoamerican chronology#Classic Era|Classic Era]] (200–1000 CE), although they likely were eaten much earlier.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Staller |first1=John Edward |url=https://archive.org/details/precolumbianfood00stal |title=Pre-Columbian Foodways: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Food, Culture, and Markets in Ancient Mesoamerica |last2=Carrasco |first2=Michael |date=2010 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4419-0470-6 |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/precolumbianfood00stal/page/n352 349]–354 |url-access=limited}}</ref> Tamales appear often in ceramic ware from the Mayan Classic era (200–1000 CE). The Fenton vase shows a plate of unwrapped tamales being offered as a penance to a powerful Mayan nobleman.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Maya: The Fenton Vase – Smarthistory |url=https://smarthistory.org/maya-the-fenton-vase/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230310082014/https://smarthistory.org/maya-the-fenton-vase/ |archive-date=2023-03-10 |access-date=2023-03-10 |website=smarthistory.org}}</ref> While tortillas are the basis for the contemporary Maya diet, remarkably little evidence exists for tortilla production among the Classic period Maya.  A lack of griddles in the archaeological record suggests that the primary foodstuff of the Mesoamerican diet may have been the ''tamal'', a cooked, vegetal-wrapped mass of maize dough.<ref name="Taube, K. A. 1989">Taube, K. A. (1989). The maize tamal in Classic Maya diet, epigraphy, and art. American Antiquity, 54(1), 31-51.</ref> Tamales are cooked without the use of ceramic technologies and therefore the form of the tamale is thought to predate the tortilla.<ref>Zizumbo-Villarreal, D., Flores-Silva, A. & Colunga-García Marín, P. (2012). The Archaic Diet in Mesoamerica: Incentive for Milpa Development and Species Domestication. Economic Botany, 66(4), 328-343.</ref> Similarities between the two maize products can be found in both the ingredients, preparation techniques, and the linguistic ambiguity exhibited by the pan-Mayan term ''wa'' referring to a basic, daily consumed maize product that can refer to either tortillas or tamales.<ref name="Taube, K. A. 1989" />

=== Toltec ===
While the exact origin of tamales has yet to be determined, the oldest people confirmed to have eaten them were the Toltecs, as archaeologists have found fossilized corn husks around the [[Pyramid of the Sun]] and the [[Pyramid of the Moon]] in [[Teotihuacan]]. (c. 250 BC – 750 CE)<ref>{{Cite book |author=Pilcher, Jeffrey M. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/49538230 |title=Vivan los tamales! : la comida y la construcción de la identidad mexicana |date=2001 |publisher=Reina Roja |isbn=968-5474-00-1 |oclc=49538230 |access-date=2023-03-10 |archive-date=2024-02-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240210223614/https://search.worldcat.org/title/49538230 |url-status=live }}</ref>