In Search of Shelter: Las Posadas

Our Sunday parish bulletin included this announcement toward the bottom of the second page in both Spanish and English.

Posada Celebration:You are cordially invited to participate in our annual Posada Celebration on Sunday, Dec. 18th at 6:30 pm. If possible, please bring your children dressed as shepherds. There will be a pinata party in the Parish Hall afterwards.

Pinatas? And the chance to secure a pillowcase around my granddaughter’s head? This along with the possibility of pan dulce and cinnamon laced cocoa was more than enough incentive.
Over the years our neighborhood has evolved. At one time my Sicilian immigrant husband  was the only foreign born American for blocks. But that has all changed. Now we have street vendors selling corn slathered with mayo and chili in the spring. In the summer Mariachi bands don silver studded charros and wide brimmed hats, holding bright yellow tubas, trumpets, violins, and guitars of every size, they play and sing with rich clear voices their songs of passion to the hundreds of families out for a day of picnic at the local park.   It is wrong to think that all of these immigrants are from Mexico, many come from South America and a discerning ear can hear the difference in language.  With 51% of our local population now claiming heritage from south of the border, it is a natural flowering in our local Churches to find celebrations of Christ’s coming into the world marked with the pageantry and customs that members of our Latin American conference of Catholics bring.   

Las Posadas translates as "the inns" or  "the shelters".  

Reenacting  Mary and Joseph’s  journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem in search of shelter the traditional celebration is a novena of days beginning  on December 16th and occurs every night untill the 24th. Each night a party is held at the home of a participant. At dusk, the guests gather outside the home with their children dressed as shepherds and angels along with Mary and Joseph, sometimes small statues of Mary and Joseph are carried, an angel leads the procession of ‘pilgrims’ carrying lighted candles and booklets filled with prayers, especially helpful for the  first time Posada participant.  Standing at the door of the house  the pilgrims sing a song asking for shelter to which they first receive a reply, ”there is no room” until finally  the door to the home of the hosting family opens and the joyous celebration begins.  The host home is filled with delicious offerings, most notable are  hot ponche,a punch make of fresh and dried fruits, steaming tamales, the traditional sweet bread pan dulce,  Mexican hot chocolate and whatever specialties the hostess might offer.

The highlight of the party is the breaking of the pinata.  The original pinatas  were clay pots filled with treats and strung up in a tree.  One older friend shared how even today he remembers Las  Posadas to include  a yearly knock on the head from a flying piece of clay but modern  pinatas are now made from paper mache. Designed to be a Christmas Star for Las Posadas, the pinata is  filled with goodies and treats and made to be battered and beaten just as its clay counterpart, ready to release its booty to the eager children below.  My husband and I arrived at the church at 6:15 with our granddaughter ready to begin our journey.  Our children, we have two teens still at home,  stayed behind with the current strain of  flu, they were assured by their niece she would bring back whatever candy she could retrieve from the pinata.

Families arrived and both young and old  were dressed in traditional costumes. The prayer booklets provided a bilingual service so that all could participate. Starting out with Scripture readings in the Church the ‘pilgrims’, led by our pastor, paraded around the church bearing ‘candles’ and singing songs and stopping at each entrance to the church only to be turned away. Finally the last door brought a welcome song and the pilgrims piled into the church.

Mary and Joseph sat in chairs of honor at the front while everyone joined in songs to the Blessed Mother. We then moved on to our parish celebration to continue and much to my delight I found the sweet Mexican breads and cinnamon cocoa.  The evening was complete with the breaking of a silver star pinata.

The world around us is is creating its own ‘traditions’ for Christmas, and none of them are good. Stacks of boxes wrapped in bright ribbon and colored paper sit  in store windows under flocked trees meant  to make us feel worthless if our pile of gifts does not measure up to their pile of gifts.  Internet shopping now gives the false impression that somehow making Christmas shopping ‘easier’ will make Christmas more rewarding.  Struggling to be 10 lbs lighter or $100 richer so we can slip into and purchase that perfect holiday outfit and  experience the joy of the secular season is exhausting and empty. Nevertheless, for years now this is the Christmas that many in our society have lived. The results are particularly devastating on the family. Our  faith filled customs and traditions to often set aside and all but ignored.

Traditions like Las Posadas bring us closer as a community, engage and unite our families and better help us to live the faith we love while not only learning but enjoying the customs of Catholics from other countries.  

Through the litanies and songs,  we are introduced to the depth and meaning of the many cultures that make up our Catholic Church.  Continuing these traditions and even expanding them and bringing them into our families is a practice that can help us to live what we profess: the belief in a universal Church.  Our processions, litanies, songs and yes, our Catholic parties and food, instill in our hearts and  the hearts of our children the joy of embracing the Catholic life we must love to obtain the ultimate Catholic party we call Heaven. The  power of  Christmas lies in our ability to bring Christ into the world and we won’t find or learn that lesson in today’s secular driven culture. It is ours to bring into world.  I may not be able to change  the worlds ‘take’ on the Christmas season, but I can change the way my own family lives these holidays and one family at a time can change the world.  Go to a Las Posadas or whatever celebration is offered during this Christmas time at you parish.  Bring your children, a grandchild, niece, nephew or friend,  dress in a costume, pray the litanies, sing the songs, eat the food, live our  Catholic traditions and pass it on.