Arcadia Spain

La Mona de Pascua is an Easter sweet typical of Catalonia, the Valencian Community and Murcia.

Origin

The name comes from the munna or mouna, an Arabic word meaning "mouth provision", a gift that the Muslims made to their masters.

As Joan Amades explains in the Costumari català, the recipe has been known since the 15th century and did not contain chocolate. This ingredient was added in the 16th century with the arrival of cocoa from America.

Customs

Traditionally the godfather gives the Mona to his godson on Easter Sunday, after mass. On Easter Monday is a tradition that families or a group of friends meet and eat the Mona together.

In many towns the bakeries compete to exhibit in their shop window the most spectacular chocolate sculpture, which can be a model of a building, a figure of a popular character or a set of cakes with chocolate or guirlache figures.

Varieties

In Catalonia the Mona has evolved over time, today there are different types of traditional Monas. The most traditional Mona is the brioche, rounded and topped with boiled eggs, which are usually painted in colors, the base is made of sponge cake and filled with cream, chocolate or jam, covered with Catalan cream burned in the horizontal surface and almonds on the sides.

With time the Monas are adorned more and more with colored feathers, chicks and chocolate coated tablets of colored glaze.

More ahead, the chocolate ornaments take more and more importance. Nowadays, some Monas made by master confectioners are sculptures, which can reach large dimensions, made only with dark chocolate.

Curiosities

-The eggs are the primordial element of Easter in many places in Europe because they are part of a symbolism related to the arrival of spring and fertility rituals.

-The tradition says that the Mona must have as many eggs as the child who receives it has, and the maximum number is 12.

-Some Monas made by master confectioners are sculptures, which can reach large dimensions, made only with dark chocolate.

-The evolution of chocolate eggs derives in all kinds of structures like minnie houses, soccer balls and the faces of the most popular cartoon characters.

-Today, the Mona is subject to commercial fashions.