Las Posadas Close to Home

In my neighborhood and all around the world, Las posadas has been a long time tradition that is
celebrated for many years during the Christmas season. Las Posadas has been a long time
Christmas ritual since 1538 when Spanish missionaries from Mexico brought Roman Catholicism to the new continent. San Ignacio de Loyola created the custom of Las Posadas to teach the
story of Mary and Joseph. Posada means to lodge or shelter coming from the word “Posar”. In
this story, Mary and Joseph travel a journey from Narazeth to Bethlehem in search for shelter.
Each stop they made, they were refused of shelter until they finally found a barn where she
later gave birth to baby Jesus. A bright star shines brightly in the dark night sky signaling the
Three Wise Men that baby Jesus is finally born. They bring along gifts for baby Jesus to the
barn where he was born in celebration of his birth.
As a child, my family and I celebrated the Christmas like most families with food, presents,
music, and a lighted Christmas tree surrounded with family we love. Not only was Christmas a
celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, my grandmother would love to tell the story to my little cousins who barely knew what the story of “las posadas was. Every year since I can remember,
my church has always done a re-enactment of “Las Posadas“. I have never seen how our church carries out this wonderful Christmas tradition and was anxious to see that for myself. I wanted to
learn more about how the event is organized and wanted to experience the tradition of “Las
Posadas” in my own neighborhood.
I recently spoke with an older woman name Mrs. Moreno who has organized “las Posadas” for
many years for our church and is planning on doing the Christmas ritual for this Christmas
event to come. One of the first things she says is that she needs to find her volunteers who
would like to participate in this years event. A few weeks before the event takes place,
neighbors in area are asked if they can use their home for “Las Posadas”. At the most three
homes can participate within the area for the re-enactment. Second, Ms. Moreno finds more
volunteers as the ones who will dress up as Mary and Joseph. She says there is about 9
volunteers mostly children who dress up including one as the angel San Gabriel who will be the
first person walking in front of the crowd. The remaining will dress as little angels. There is an
option on whether baby Jesus can be carried wrapped in a blanket or baby Jesus can be carried
in a manger of hay. Those who follow towards the end sing a variety of different songs of “las
Posadas” one including “Estrella de Belen”. The group will walk down some streets carrying
lighted candles until they reach the first house and ask for posada in a song. The family will sing
it back in a song refusing them shelter, but that same family will also walk along with the group
down the streets of our neighborhood to the next house. As they approach the next house, they
sing a song asking for posada and once again. The family will refuse to give them posada and sing back to them rejecting their request. Finally as the group approaches the last house, the group
will sing the song again for the third time asking for posada. The family inside sing back and
accepts them to lay baby Jesus in their home. Once baby Jesus is laid in their home, everyone
who was involved in “las Posadas” celebrated at the family’s home with a party.
Everyone meets at their home where lots of food is served such as the traditional tamales,
bunuelos, candy, and much more. There is also a pinata for the children with lots of treats inside
for them to enjoy.
Mrs. Moreno has been the main organizer for the St. Lawrence church for many years and each
year it gets more exciting for the family and friends of the community. She along with other
family members volunteer to provide the decorative candles for everyone. The parents of the
children can decorate the angel gowns for their children in any way they like as long as it looks
similar to the other children.
I have interviewed one of the family members parents Martha Mendoza who comes every year
to sing the carols and says that she enjoys it very much. Every year she says more and more
people get involved to participate in the Christmas event. Many enjoy very much that they bring
along more family and friends for the fun. Mrs. Mendoza says she and her family made it a tradition to come out every year to take part during the holiday season and she looks forward to coming again along with her family. I interviewed the Garcia family who has taken part in “las
posadas” who used their home in past posadas, says they were very blessed to be
asked if their home could be used for the posadas. The Garcia Family have two children one six
and the other ten who enjoy the Christmas tradition as well. They find it more exciting than
sitting at home watching television. They also said that participating in las posadas brings them
closer than before and made it a family event for the season.
After I have interviewed Mrs. Moreno, Martha Mendoza, and the Garcia Family, I feel that I
have learned and gained more than what I had already known about the story of las posadas. I
am looking forward to participating in las posadas this year by taking part in singing the carols
with everyone. I also feel that it was not only a tradition being celebrated every year but also a
time for spending quality time with our loved ones. 1001 words