Showing posts with label Las Posadas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Las Posadas. Show all posts

December 19 - Las Posadas in Mexico

Posted on December 19, 2020

This is an update of my 12/19/2009 post:



Las Posadas is a 9-day Christmas celebration in Mexico and in Mexican communities elsewhere. 

And when I say "9-day," I really mean 9 nights!

Children are chosen to play the roles of Mary, Joseph, angels, and shepherds, and at dusk they dress up and parade through streets, singing songs about needing shelter or lodging (posadas means “inns”). Adults follow with lighted candles.


At most of the neighborhood homes, the procession is turned away (in song), but at the neighborhood home that is hosting that night, the hosts sing a reply and then open their doors to the procession. Party food includes hot ponche, fried cookies called buñuelos, tamales, and so forth. Usually there is a piñata in the shape of a Christmas star as well.




This celebration originated in Spain and is practiced by some in other Latin American countries and communities, but it is most widespread in Mexico. There are of course lots of variations. One example is that, in some towns the child playing Mary rides a donkey or burro; in others, no one plays the part of Mary and Joseph, but instead adults carry large posters picturing them.

The song and some of its lyrics can be found here.

Lots of information and resources can be found here.


Make buñuelos using this recipe:

BUNUELOS DE PASCUA NAVIDENA
Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups flour, sifted three times
2 cups peeled and finely chopped pine nuts
4 spoons white sugar
2 spoons green lemon rind 1 spoon baking powder
4 fresh egg yolks
4 egg whites, beaten
plenty of frying oil
Directions:
  • Beat the yolks until they rise. Add the lemon rind, flour (previously sifted with the baking powder, mixing it with the egg whites and the pine nuts) a very thick paste must be formed. If the paste is loose, add some more flour.
  • Pour plenty of oil in a pan and when it is hot, take spoons of the paste and fry them on low fire, covering them with oil so they rise.
  • Drain the grease and sprinkle with confectioner's sugar.
By the way, buñuelos seem to be made in several different shapes:






Here are more recipes for ponche, buñuelos, and tamales.



Make mini-piñatas using instructions found here.

Decorate with poinsettias! (Real, silk flowers, or paper handcrafts.)





This flower is one of the world's favorite Christmas imports from Mexico! Notice that the red (or pink or creamy white) “petals” are really leaves, and the small yellow “flower centers” are the actual flowers.

Here are some instructions for drawing poinsettias.


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December 20 - Las Posadas

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.



The party always involves food and drink, often tamales and hot punch or atole (a corn- and masa-based drink).





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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