Las Posadas December 16

The celebration has been a Mexican tradition since 1586Many Mexican holidays include staged events, a tradition that has its roots in the ritual of biblical plays used to teach religious doctrine to a largely illiterate population in the X^e century.

In Mexico, the winter solstice festival was one of the most important celebrations of the year, falling on December 12th according to the Julian calendar used by the Spanish until 1582. According to the Aztec calendar, Our Lady of Guadalupe (the mother of the gods) was celebrated on the winter solstice, and she is still celebrated on December 12th, when their most important deity, the sun and war god Huitzilopochtli, was born in the month of December (panquetzaliztli). The parallel in time between this indigenous festival and the celebration of Christmas lent itself to an almost seamless fusion of the two holidays.

It is traditional for two people to dress up as Mary and Joseph and parade in procession to certain houses designated as "inns."

The figures of Mary and Joseph are sometimes simply represented by ceramic statuettes, but can also be incarnated, accompanied by a donkey, angels and shepherds joining along the way, or pilgrims who may carry images of the holy figures instead, while costumed children carry poinsettias.

The head of the procession carries a candle inside a paper lampshade. The procession is followed by musicians, the entire procession singing inns such as to eat inn. It is now common to see this tradition practiced among friends or family. The group then divides into two; one outside, representing Mary and Joseph, and the other inside the house.

Those who play Mary and Joseph go door to door every night for nine nights. At each house, the couple asks in song (The Letanías) overnight accommodation. On the other side of the door, the innkeeper and his guests always respond in song.

This song alludes to the doors that Mary and Joseph knocked on before finding the lodging for the birth of Jesus. The request for “posada” is made 3 times before the couple and the procession are finally invited to enter. The group of guests enters the house and kneels around the manger (Christmas Births) to pray.

At the end of the evening of December 24th, during New Year's Eve, the children open piñatas in the shape of a seven-pointed star and everyone shares a large meal..