Mexicans and other Latin Americans alike are celebrating Las Posadas!

12-17-2008

Christmas and other Holiday festivities are right around the corner. But did you know that beginning today until Christmas Eve, Mexicans and other Latin Americans alike are celebrating Las Posadas!

 

The Posadas, a tradition which starts on December 16^th and continues until Christmas Eve, is a warm and festive celebration of friendship and good neighborliness that are held every night, and represent the trials which Mary and Joseph underwent before finding a place to stay where Jesus could be born in Bethlehem.

 

As you prepare for your holiday features, I believe information about “Las Posadas” would be extremely interesting to your readers!

A little bit about the holiday:

This tradition began in Mexico in 1587, when Father Diego de Soria was authorized by the then Pope Sixtus V to celebrate the Posadas. It is believed that the first Posada celebration was held in the town of San Agustin Acolman, near Mexico City.

 

But it wasn’t until the eighteenth century that these activities became common in neighborhoods and homes, and religious music was replaced by popular songs.

 

Today, Las Posadas is a planned celebration. Each evening, for nine days, guests arrive at the house where the Posada will take place. The group goes outside the house, with lighted candles and papers with the words of the verses to ask for Posada.

 

The group shares the roles of pilgrims and hosts meeting in the house that will serve as the "inn". The pilgrims, led by a boy dressed as an angel, or by two children dressed as Mary and Joseph and with candles in their hands, seeking refuge and shelter sing:
 
On behalf of heaven
I'm asking for shelter
because my beloved wife

cannot walk.

The group that is inside replies:

This is not an inn;
keep moving ahead.
I can not open,
could be an imposter.

The song is repeated twice. The hosts "discover" who the people suffering from the cold outside truly are and welcome them in, while they sing:

Come, holy pilgrims,
receive this shelter;
not this poor abode,
but in my heart.

When the "pilgrims" enter, the religious side of the activity ends and the social begins with a party at the house, which usually is decorated with a Nativity scene.

After, children break piñatas, Christmas carols are sung and traditional foods such as buñuelos (very thin fried pastries covered with sugar), colación (a mixture of different candies), tamales, and ponche, fruit punch.

 

Posadas Traditions:

 

·        The festival begins with a piñata that contains peanuts, oranges, sugar cane, candy and sometimes gifts.

Children have to break these piñatas while blindfolded-and the res of the group sings

hit it, hit it, hit it,
do not loose your aim;
because if you lose it,
you lose the way.

·        Piñatas in the shape of a star represent evil and each of the seven peaks that come out of it, is a capitol sin, the stick that is used to break it, represents the Christian faith.

·        Another local interpretation is that the devil has in its stomach all the good that exists in this world, and that breaking the piñata these goods are for the benefit of all.

·        While blindfolded children beat the piñata, everyone else sings:

 

If you are working on any “Posadas” or other Holiday related stories, we have beautiful, high-resolution images available including:

 

·        Mexican children and their families celebrating the holiday

·        Colorful images of candy-filled traditional pinatas

·        Traditional foods including “Bunellos”

·        Music and entertainment festivals featuring traditional dancers

 

Sample Photos:

A traditional “Pinata”

 

Children portray a “Nativity Set”

 

Recreation of the “Posada”

Reenactment of Mary and Joseph:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Posadas is a fascinating holiday that is very much alive in the United States, among many Latin-Americans

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