Posted December 20, 2018
(December 16 - 24)
Group of people knocking at the door:
In the name of heaven / I ask you for shelter,
For my beloved wife / can go no farther.
Those answering the door:
This is not an inn, / Get on with you,
I cannot open the door, / You might be a rogue!
This is the beginning of the song sung by folks participating in Las Posadas. Do you recognize it as the story of Joseph and Mary trying to find shelter when it's time for Mary to give birth - but there's no room at anywhere?
I've already written about Las Posadas in an earlier post - but that was years ago, and this colorful holiday tradition deserves a revisit!
Posadas are held in Mexico and some other Central American countries and in neighborhoods with many Hispanic residents elsewhere in the world. It lasts nine nights, and each night starts with a procession of people holding candles and singing Christmas songs.
Often, two of the marchers / singers are playing the part of Joseph and Mary from the Christmas story. The procession winds through the neighborhood until it arrives at the house selected for that's evening's festivities - a different house each of the nine nights, of course!
It is at that house that the special song I quoted from above is sung. Over and over again, the people in the procession sing their request, in different words each verse, introducing themselves, asking for charity, revealing that they are worn out... And over and over again, the people in the house turn them away, saying such things as "Don't bother me anymore" and "Let me sleep." But of course eventually the song changes, with the people in the house welcoming them and the people in the procession thanking them.
Once they are inside, there is a celebration that varies from a small gathering of friends to a huge fiesta. Some people start the party with a short Catholic service - a Bible reading or a prayer about one of the good qualities we all try to cultivate.
Many parties include dancing and music, and most end with breaking piñatas and giving out candy to the kids.
Posadas are celebrated much more widely now than they were when they began in the late 1500s, probably near Mexico City. As with so many other Christmas traditions, they are a melding of Christian stories and earlier non-Christian traditions. In this case, the Aztecs used to have special meals and celebrations around the time of the winter solstice, and the Catholic friars from Spain took advantage of those celebrations to encourage interest in Christianity.
Posadas are often held as just one-night events at schools or organizations, as well as nine-night events in neighborhoods.
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