Posada

 Pop quiz! Name other December holidays besides Christmas and Hannukah. Go! (Just checking to see whether you read the Dec. 14^th post and retained all the vital information. Answers at the end, * but no cheating.)

But in addition to the diversity of Winter celebrations in multiple cultures and religions, there is also the extraordinary variety within the world’s Christian traditions—the Dutch putting presents in wooden shoes, the Spanish paying more mind to Epiphany (Jan. 6^th) than Christmas, the British caroling and mummer’s plays, the Germans hiding the tree that is decorated from the children (including with live candle flames on the branches!) until Christmas Eve and more. Amongst them is the Mexican tradition of Las Posadas. 

 

This tradition that originated in Spain but particularly took hold in Mexico is the recreation of Joseph and Mary looking for accommodations before Jesus is born. They come to house after house requesting lodging (Posada means lodging) and are refused as people are wary of offering hospitality to destitute strangers. In short, “there’s no room at the inn.” (And in today’s cruel world, the people inside are dialing ICE.) Finally they understand that Mary is “the Queen of the Heavens” about to give birth to the “Divine Word” and then they open their doors. 

 

And so the week before Christmas, groups walk through the village stopping at houses singing a song. There are verses for the people outside pleading for a room and the people inside refusing them until convinced that these are important people. Then the ¾ meter of the song changes to a rollicking 6/8 as the people inside sing, “Entren santos peregrinos, peregrinos, reciban este rincon…” —“Enter, holy pilgrims, and receive this corner (in my house)” and those outside come in, where food is ready and later, piñatas for all to break open for candy. (In their pleading, the outside people promise that God will reward them for their hospitality and that, along with convincing them that Mary is divine, is what ultimately changes their mind. Yet I believe that the adult Jesus' message is that we are all divine and worthy of welcome and hospitality irregardless of any promised punishments or rewards.Perhaps if I lived in Mexico, I might suggest updating the song to include this sentiment.)

 

Jim Thurston, a teacher hired at The San Francisco School in 1975, the same year as me, spent much of his childhood in Mexico. So as an adult in San Francisco, he decided to continue the Las Posadas tradition and host it at his house. He made traditional tamales, gave us the song-sheets and with the help of his brother Wally on guitar, taught us the song and off we went, some inside and some outside before feasting. We skipped the piñata part, but later, Jim, a pagan through and through, made up a little play about darkness and light that he and his family and select others would re-enact after we ate. 

 

This Posada party became an integral part of our family’s winter celebrations, a chance to celebrate with both other teachers we knew from the school and other friends of Jim and later, his wife, Pamela. Then the kids began being born and growing up and then the grandkids and on this went, year after year. Until the pandemic. 

 

Post-pandemic, there were attempts to revive it, but always thwarted by some family illness or other impediment. So last night’s Posada reunion was the first one since 2019. 

 

Now it was the grandchildren taking roles in the play, the “children” I taught (who were the children of the teachers I taught with) now in their 40’s and 50’s and the original adults now all white-haired in their 70’s and 80’s. Remarkable. I remember reading a poem once that ended: “To be alive to sing these songs is a victory.” Yes, indeed. More on this in the next post.

 

·      And the answers to the original question above? Buddha’s Enlightenment Day, The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Santa Lucia, Rumi’s Wedding Night, Solstice, Kwaanza— and more!)