Las Posadas (A Hispanic Christmas Service)

Hispanic Christians often celebrate Christmas with this Las Posadas service. This service dramatizes Mary and Joseph's search for a place to stay. It is normally celebrated during the Advent season. In its focus on the events immediately preceding Jesus' birth, it can be most appropriately used near or on the celebration of Christmas.

In the Hispanic experience Las Posadas follows a historical tradition of fiesta, a feast. In the religious sense, fiesta is the conjunction of sacred time and space to portray a sacred event. Fiesta then becomes a ritual—a ritual of celebration which through collective expression justifies and sanctions a special order. Accordingly, in the Hispanic expression, fiesta has a certain carnival character. This carnival character is one of rejoicing, a popular participation by putting aside all pretensions and being a part of a regenerative moment. Further, fiesta is a religious drama where human participation rehearses the revelation of God, the strength and grace of God in sacred imitation. To understand this concept of fiesta is to appreciate Las Posadas, a Hispanic celebration of Advent preparation ordinarily held nine days before Christmas. All too often, this fiesta is viewed by non-Hispanics as a quaint cultural expression of popular religiosity. In reality, Las Posadas in the Hispanic tradition is a celebration of devotion to the child Jesus, honoring the infant by giving him a place in their home. The name accentuates the importance of the child Jesus in the home, for posada means a lodging house, an inn, a place where one can posar, rest and be at home. The celebration of Las Posadas, while practiced in several Latin American countries, is more at home in the Mexican culture. The theme is relatively simple but preparations may be elaborate at times. The essence of Las Posadas is that Mary and Joseph go about the community seeking lodging. They are refused lodging at several homes until they are finally accepted. The enactment of Las Posadas is a community event. The persons who represent Mary and Joseph are selected by the community and are usually active members in a local parish. Particular homes are volunteered as the places where the plea for lodging is sung and the home where lodging is granted. Children usually lead the procession, carrying figures of Mary and Joseph on a donkey. As the procession arrives at each home, they knock on the door while singing "Para Pedir Posadas" ("Requesting Lodging"). This song is a request from the processing party to the homeowner and a reply by the homeowner to the processing party.

Para Pedir Posadas (Requesting Lodging) (outside petition)

En nombre del cielo In the name of heaven

Os pido posaI request lodging Pues no puede andar, Since she can no longer walk, Ya mi esposa amada. My beloved wife. (inside reply) Aqui no es meson. This is not an inn. Sigan adelante Go farther on Pues no puedo abrir. Since I cannot open. No sea algun tunante. You might be a rogue. (outside petition) Venimos rendidos. We are very tired. Desde nazaret. We come from Nazareth. Yo soy carpinter. I am a carpenter. De nombre Jose. My name is Joseph. (inside reply) No me importa el nombre The name does not matter, Dejenme dormir. Let me sleep. Pues que yo les digo And I tell you again Que no hemos de abrir. We will not open for you. (outside petition) Posada te pide, Lodging is requested, Amada casero, Beloved innkeeper, Por solo una noche For only one night La Reina del Cielo. By the Queen of Heaven. (inside reply) Pues si es una Reina If it is a Queen Quien la soliticita, Who makes the request, ¿Como es que de noche How is it that at night Anda tan solita? She travels alone? (outside petition) Mi esposa es Maria. My wife is Mary. Es la Reina del Cielo She is the Queen of Heaven Y madre va a ser And she will be the mother Del Divino verbo. of the Divine word. The processional party, after suffering rejection at several homes, is finally admitted. The following refrain is sung by all. Entren, Santos Peregrinos (Enter, Holy Pilgrims) Entren, Santos Peregrinos, Enter, holy pilgrims, Reciban este rincon Receive this corner No de esta pobre morada Not from this humble house Sino de mi corazón. But in my heart. While each home visited is supposed to turn away the pilgrims until the procession reaches the designated "inn," every house visited usually gives treats and the celebration increases with each visit. When all have been accepted at the designated inn (home), the leader, usually a priest or minister, reads Scripture and offers prayer and a short homily. It is customary for the homeowner to prepare a short welcome to all the guests that reflects the spirit of the celebration and encourages hospitality. Then the party begins in a lively carnival spirit. During the evening, it is customary to sing traditional Advent hymns: "Noche De Paz" ("Silent Night"); "Venid Fieles Todos" ("O Come All Ye Faithful"); "En El Taller De Nazareth" ("In the Shop at Nazareth"); "Hoy A La Tierra" ("Today, to Earth"). In some Hispanic communities throughout the United States, Las Posadas has become an opportunity to dramatize community issues. Issues such as immigration and discrimination become a focus of this fiesta. The themes expressed in Las Posadas relate to the contextual experience of Hispanics as an immigrant people. Many still see the United States as the land of opportunity and the symbol of liberty expressed in the now famous words written by philanthropist Emma Lazarus in 1883 and inscribed on the Statue of Liberty in 1903: Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door. While the hand is extended to immigrants, the tragic reality is that for many Hispanics the doors are never fully opened. The season of Advent, when the story of Mary and Joseph seeking refuge is vividly enacted, becomes a living reality for Hispanics. It is not surprising that this drama is also a way to express a reality. Theologically and pastorally, the question of welcoming rest was considered in a temporary way. The reworked Posadas retained the element of processing Mary and Joseph in costume. But a new theme song was added in which a key question repeats each time Mary and Joseph and the other singers reach a new place in the neighborhood. "We ask you, we ask you, where can we rest? Where can we welcome the poor and oppressed?" With these words, Sr. Carol Frances Jegen, BVM, Mundelein College, Chicago, has described the contemporary meaning of Las Posadas. She further describes the contemporary fiesta: "The procession began with an opening prayer. At the end of the journeyings, when the final door opened in true Posadas fashion, the entire group spent time reflecting on two scripture passages (Luke 2:17, Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem) and (Matthew 25:31–40, ?'Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you, etc.'). Prayers of petition for all the refugees of today's world, and for church and government leaders, conclude the service." Las Posadas is celebrated primarily by Roman Catholic Christians. Protestant Hispanics are only now beginning to appreciate this tradition as their heritage. Perhaps Las Posadas will become more meaningful to Protestant Hispanics when contemporary Christian celebrations aid them in both sharing their traditional faith and living this reality.