La Mona and I don't mean The Monkey

There is a special cake made and eaten at Easter time here in Catalonia and it is called La Mona - which literally means monkey... but this cake has little to do with monkeys, except in as far as the children scamper around like little monkeys trying to get another piece of cake.

The Friday before vacation was dedicated to Easter activities. In the morning each class decorated its own mona. They made paper chef hats and went to town. All the cakes were put on display in the main hall and when the parents came to pick up their kids for the midday meal, there was lots of ooing and ahing. In the afternoon, the entire school trooped outside and each grade level had its turn to sing an easter song, called caramelles, and the upper level performed some Catalan dances in traditional dress. Afterwards, the cakes were brought out to the playground and each class devoured their own cake. They made short work of the cakes, so I didn't get a piece, but in the real life, the day of the Mona is Easter Sunday. So I'll get to try some then!

These are the sweetest two girls, both from Argentina, in 5th grade. The one on the left is gluten-intolerant so her mother made her a special cake so that she didn't have to feel left out while the others chowed down. She was so cute with her own little mona!

This is traditional Catalan dress for males.