Friday. 12.17.10 Start of the Posadas

Tonight we went to our first “posada” in six years! “Posada” directly translates to “shelter” - the traditions of “Las Posadas” here, starts nine days before Christmas and is a re-enactment of Joseph & Mary’s search for a place to stay. Posadas are happening all over the country in cities & pueblos alike, and in various neighborhoods in those cities & towns for nine straight days just before Christmas. Usually the nightly ritual starts at a church where first they have mass. Then the people from the church begin to carry the statues of the saints Jose y Maria down to the designated neighborhood for the night. It is arranged before hand, usually by all the women, which streets get it on which night, then which houses will be involved. So the group of people start to move from the church to the first house, all the way singing songs. When they arrive at the first house, in song, they ask for a place to stay, Joseph introduces himself and says that his wife is carrying the holy son, and they need a place to stay. The response, also in song, comes back saying that it’s late, and the name is not important, they don’t know him and wish for him to let them sleep, basically - go away! The group of people turns to leave and the same thing happens at the next few destinations. Meanwhile the group of people is usually growing drastically, the few that actually attend the church mass, when they exit the church encounter a number of people waiting outside to join them for the festivities, and along the way more people jump in to the group so that by the time they reach the last house, the size of the group has usually tripled what they started out with. Finally they get to the decided house for the night, and this time when they sing asking for shelter the response is different, basically they come around to say ‘oh Joseph it is you and your wife Mary, we didn’t recognize you, our house is blessed, you are welcome to stay, please come in’. This is where everybody enters and the leaders who are carrying the saints go straight in to where this house has their nativity scene set up, where they then begin to do a rosary. Right about now is the same time the rest of the people start to spread out and wait for the rest of the festivities to begin. Once the rosary is done, the saints stay for the meantime at the nativity scene while the hosts for the night (and all the helpers) begin to pass out cups for “ponche” (a delicious warm winter punch - basically a tea made with various fruits, fresh or dried) as others are pouring ponche and passing out bread or tamales. It’s an offering, I’m assuming that resembles what was given to Joseph and Mary, not only shelter for the night but something warm to eat and drink as well. This is all of the details that the women figure out before hand, and usually people from the other houses, the ones who turned the group away, and throughout the neighborhood have helped to make the tamales, or buy the bread all make and bring ponche to contribute. People are visiting and enjoying the warm ponche and treats. Then after not too long, they have something else in the forms of treats. This is usually in the form of “bolsitas” - little bags that have been prepared with dulces (candies) or sometimes with peanuts and fruit like an orange and a stick of “caña” (sugar cane). And sometimes also includes a piñata, for the kids it’s a chance to throw yourself into a dog pile of easily 20 kids or more, and for the adults it’s just fun to watch the kids. Josue plays cameraman and gets right up in the action! This is basically the idea of the posadas, and once all the treats have been passed out, everyone starts to leave and head back home.
That being the main idea, how they really seem to go, is, most people seem to skip the church part of the night, as well as the rosary. Besides that, all throughout the walk you can hear and see the kids setting off “cuetes” (fireworks). Most of the focus seems to be on eating the food & drinking the ponche, and for some, getting as much as you can. Tonight with the ponche they also offered some sweet bread. After that, it seems to be on getting as many “bolsitas” as possible. We thought those bags to be for the kids, but no, they’re also for the adults, and adults and kids alike you can see people stashing them in their coats so they can ask for more. The guests, tonight practically mawled the guy who was handing out the bags. We missed the first posada last night because we were at the cyber, but when we got home, Josue’s cousin Gerardo, is proudly showing off his score of 7 bags! And tonight we were seeing the same thing, hearing kids as we were walking out, asking each other “¿cuantas bolsas te dieron?” (how many bags did you get?) and responses like “only one!” with a look of disappointment on their face, or “just three!” It was pretty interesting, the closest thing to compare it to over there would be Halloween, how the goal is to get as many free candies as possible! Still it was fun to see.