Cuzco is all dressed up. As we know, today, the 1st of November is carried out the feast of Todos Santos, All Souls. It is one of the most important feasts in the calendar of feasts of the Imperial City. Today, all the most important bakers of the city will come together to make the largest bread baby in the world. At the same time, when the demand for bread babies is at its peak, the city will carry out a festival of bread babies in the San Francisco Plaza.
More than 65 bakers will be present to make the enormous baby of bread. They do so in order to promote the continued consumption of this traditional treat.
On this important date of Todos Santos, our custom requires people to buy a medium sized bread horse and a bread baby in order to make a gift of them to their children. They give the horse to boys and the doll to girls. Larger breads in the same shapes are also made as gifts among families during this time.
The neighborhood bakers in each area heat up their Owens from very early in the morning in order to make all these special breads and take them out for sale in the city’s streets.
In Cuzco’s downtown, the markets and plazas overflow with people on November 1st from early in the morning. They leave their homes to make the necessary purchases and to see what is going on. They await the surprises that this new Todos Santos might bring.
For small children the custom is to keep the bread they were given as a gift until the feast is over. Then with joy and excitement they enjoy it with the popular hot chocolate with milk.
Days before, the vendors are already in position awaiting the principal day in order to sell all their products. The medium sized bread babies and horses can be obtained from 6 soles (a bit more than 2$ US). As the size goes up so does the price.
