Las Posadas is a nine-day Navidad (Christmas) celebration with origins
in Spain. Las Posadas are now celebrated mainly in Mexico and Guatemala.
Posada is the Spanish word for "lodging", or "accommodation.” It is
written in the plural because the celebration spans a period of several
nights.
In Mexico, the Christmas holidays begin unofficially
with the saint's day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The festivities are in
full swing with the beginning of the posadas — celebrated each evening
from December 16 to 24. They are, in fact, a novenario — nine days of
religious observance based on the nine months that Maria carried Jesus
in her womb.
The posadas re-enact Mary and Joseph's cold and difficult journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem in search of shelter or lodging.
Traditionally,
a party is held each night in a neighborhood home. At dusk, guests
gather outside the house with children dressed as shepherds, angels and
sometimes, Mary and Joseph. An angel leads the procession, followed by
Mary and Joseph or by guests carrying their images. The adults follow,
carrying lighted candles.
Every
home has a nativity scene and the hosts of the Posada act as the
innkeepers. The neighborhood children and adults are the pilgrims
(peregrinos). The "pilgrims" sing a traditional song asking for shelter,
and the hosts sing a reply. All the pilgrims carry small, lit candles
in their hands. Four people carry small statues of Joseph leading a
donkey, on which Mary is riding.
The head of the procession will
have a candle inside a paper lamp shade. At each house, the resident
responds by refusing lodging until finally the weary travelers reach the
designated site for the party, where Mary and Joseph are finally
recognized and allowed to enter. Once the "innkeepers" let them in, the
guests come into the home and kneel around the Nativity scene to pray
(typically, the Rosary). The “innkeepers” offer the “peregrinos” and
their guests hot cider, fried rosette cookies known as buñuelos,
steaming hot tamales and other festive foods.
The
party ends with a piñata in the shape of the Christmas star. Inside
the piñata, there are cnadies, fruit and other goodies for the children.
The
last posada, held on December 24, is followed by midnight mass, a
tradition that lives on in countless Mexican towns and cities.
Many
Latin-American countries continue to celebrate this holiday with very
few changes to the tradition. In some places, the final location may be a
church instead of a home. Individuals may actually play the various
parts of Mary (María) and Joseph with the expectant mother riding a real
donkey (burro), with attendants such as angels and shepherds acquired
along the way, or the pilgrims may carry images of the holy personages
instead. At the end of the long journey, there will be Christmas carols
(villancicos).
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