diciembre: Posadas

December 16th through December 24th it is Mexican custom to celebrate Posadas. “Posada” means “inn” and the almost nightly parties reenact Mary and Joseph’s quest to find an inn in Bethlehem as part of the Christmas story. It is like a religious block party – guests are invited to walk from house to house singing a song that asks the families for room in their “inn” and are turned away until they reach the designated house. Once they reach the destination, they are greeted with hot “ponche” (punch – a lot like apple cider but with chunks of a variety of fruit) and a party. Music is played, people chat, and sooner or later the hosts break out a series of piñatas.

This was actually a bigger celebration than what I expected. During the period of posadas, I was invited to a different posada almost every night (if not more than one per day) and ended up going to several (not quite every night, I still had to work and sleep!)

It was a fun tradition and I found that the Christmas celebration here in Mexico is spread out from the 16th of December marking the start of Posadas through the 6th of January and Three Kings Day with much less concentrated focus on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (see the Feliz Navidad entry about Christmas celebration)