Easter eggs and Monas

This week I started to see Easter eggs in the bakeries and supermarkets. Here, the tradition includes the eggs and something else called Monas de pascuas. To start with I couldn't understand the meaning because "monas" means "female monkeys" in Spanish.
However, today I learnt that Mona is a word coming from the Arab “munna” which means gift. The Easter mona was a sweet bun with a hard boiled egg baked into it and which was traditionally given by godparents to their godsons and daughters. You can still find the traditional ones in some bakeries.

The egg-decorated pastries tradition was overtaken in the mid twentieth century by chocolate with which fantastic figures were created to call children’s attention. Each Easter Monday, godparents, specially Catalan, give children this fantastic delicacy.

In Catalonia, where the tradition has become a great event over the years and specially in Barcelona, a city famous for its designers and great taste in everything, it has become the chance for master chocolate makers to show off their art and knowledge, exhibiting their most incredible creations. Some are internationally acclaimed, such as the late pastry cook and chocolate sculptor Antoní Escribá (new shop) or OriolBalaguer whose creations are true chocolate art jewels as you can see in the pictures here, they look even better than the bejewelled Fabergé eggs. (a click on their names will take you to web sites with more information about them).

That sort of designs are at the very top of the Easter eggs industry and are accordingly very pricely and not to be founded in my local bakery. However, even the local bakeries here in Sabadell are showing off beautiful or funny creations to tempt everybody, from images of football idol Ronaldinho with his Barcelona Football Club shirt to the Teletubbies and everything you can think of in the middle, you're totally spoiled for choices. As you can see in the last picture taken from one of the local pastisserias here in Sabadell.

This is another tradition that we're happily going to embrace!!