December 16th – 24th – Las Posadas – (Spanish for “the inns”) It is a nine-day celebration with origins in Spain. Typically, each family in a neighborhood will schedule a night for the Posada to be held at their home. Every home has a nativity scene and the hosts of the Posada act as the innkeepers. The neighborhood children and adults are the pilgrims (peregrinos), who have to request lodging by going house to house singing a traditional song about the pilgrims. At each house, the resident responds by refusing lodging (also in song), until the weary travelers reach the designated site for the party, where Mary and Joseph are finally recognized and allowed to enter. Once the “innkeepers” let them in, the group of guests come into the home and kneel around the Nativity scene to pray. Latin American countries have continued to celebrate this holiday to this day, with very few changes to the tradition. At the end of the long journey, there will be Christmas carols (villancicos) and children will break open piñatas.
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