As Advent continues, Catholics across the Americas are preparing for Christmas through Las Posadas Navideñas (Christmas Inns), a nine-night tradition observed 16-24 December that reenacts Mary and Joseph’s search for lodging before Jesus’ birth.
Celebrated widely in Mexico and often across US parishes, Las Posadas blend prayer, procession, song and community.
Sister Susi Miranda, a Xaverian Missionary Sister of Mary at St Bernard Church in Worcester, said the devotion “was born as a devotion of accompaniment to the Holy Family, who journeyed, who sought, and as a way to say, ‘We walk alongside them.'”
Rooted in 16th-century evangelisation efforts by Spanish missionaries in Mexico, the tradition has taken on new life in culturally diverse parishes, while keeping traditional elements.
At Our Lady Queen of Angels Church in Los Angeles, Father Arturo Corral said evenings begin with prayer and culminate in neighborhood processions.
“People go to different places, to different houses, asking for a place (to stay),” he described.
“They continue walking until, finally, one of the houses opens the door and says, ‘It is the time to open the door for the Queen of the Heavens to come and bring the baby.'”
In Youngstown, Ohio, the nights often end with a joyful finale: breaking a star-shaped piñata, rich with symbolism, which, Hernandez explained, reflects faith, virtue and the joy of God’s gifts.
, a nine-night tradition observed 16-24 December that reenacts Mary and Joseph's search for lodging before Jesus' birth.){kind=link}