Las Posadas

Las Posadas is a nine-day celebration that begins tonight, on December 16. Posadas is Spanish for "lodging", and the nine days represent the nine months of Mary's pregnancy.

In Mexico, people gather and carry candles and clay figures of Mary and Joseph from house to house, reenacting Mary and Joseph’s search for a room at an inn. They are turned away again and again with a rude “No!” Finally, one house allows them to enter, and everyone celebrates with food and a piñata. The procession is repeated each night through Christmas Eve, with a party at a different house each night.

Tonight is also the start of the Christmas Novena in Italy. A Novena is a Catholic ritual, a prayer repeated daily for nine days. It can take place at any time of the year, but one of the most observed is the Christmas Novena, recited or sung during the 9 days leading up to Christmas day. Las Posadas comes from that same tradition.

Agenda:
1. Listen to novenas
2. Sign up to help at the Warming Center
3. Set out our crèche
4. Make Mexican hot chocolate
5. Read the Christmas story
6. Have a Posadas Procession

1. Listen to novenas:
The most well-known Christmas Novena was written by Father Charles Vachetta, pastor of the Church of the Immaculate in Turin, Italy, in 1721. He wrote it as a gift to his parishioners, to help them to understand the intertwining of the Old and New Testaments- a prayer going deep into the spirit of Advent, to leave them inspired with joy. Listen to the traditional Christmas Novena, Day 1, sung by the Daughters of St. Paul Choir.

I was searching through traditional and alternate novenas and found this one at the WorldSSPS (Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit), called In Communion with the Victims of Violence.

Day 1 – Christmas Novena Prayer

Lord God, you know the depth of the heart and the pains of many women in our patriarchal culture. Help us to overcome all these ills to be able to sing, with Mary: “He looked at the humiliation of his servant,” we pray, compassion reaches those who fear Him from one generation to another.

Lord God, help us to overcome any individualism to enter the circle of solidarity, we pray, compassion reaches those who fear Him from one generation to another.

Lord God, look at the immeasurable human suffering many times being caused by fratricide quarrels. Teach us the lesson of the Incarnation of your Son Jesus, of real love to overcome this human disintegration and of creation, we pray, compassion reaches those who fear Him from one generation to another.

If you go to the site, the novena includes a prayer, a recitation, and a personal story. Each day of the novena has a different theme- The environment, refugees and migrants, etc. Pretty cool practice!

2. Sign up to help at the Warming Center:
I have always wished to live someplace where the Posadas procession is practiced. It reminds me of what it means to be a compassionate person and part of a compassionate community. It reminds me that the person at the door asking for help is always Jesus.

“...for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” Matthew 25:35-36.

The Egan Warming Center is a bunch of different sites in our town that activate whenever the temperatures drop to 30ºF. We just had an 12 day cold streak and I volunteered on 4 of those nights to make and serve food to about 50 homeless people, so they could have a warm meal and sleep on the floor indoors.

At Posadas I always double up my efforts to help homeless people in my community, and we might be activated again tonight, so I'm ready to sign up.

3. Set out our crèche:

Traditionally, it was St. Francis of Assisi who made the first crèche, in honor of animals who shared the stable with the baby Jesus. 

We made Mary and Joseph with fabric and glue when my kids were very young. The donkey and bird (on the roof) are Fimo and the manger is balsa wood.

Today I set out just these figures, but leave the manger empty until Christmas morning.

4. Make Mexican hot chocolate:
You can buy Mexican chocolate in boxes in the specialty isle of your grocery store. It has a different flavor and texture than regular chocolate because they add cinnamon.

Ingredients:

• 1 qt. milk
• 2 tablets (about 7 oz.) of Mexican chocolate

1. Pour milk into a saucepan and heat on low.

2. Break chocolate into small pieces. Add to the milk, and bring it to a simmer. Stir the mixture until the chocolate is melted.

3. Beat the hot chocolate with a whisk until foamy.

5. Read the Christmas story:
Luke 2:1-20.


6. Have a Posadas Procession:

No room at the inn.

Last year we had a procession at our Friends Meeting Christmas party! It was fun. I asked for volunteers to be Mary and Joseph and other pilgrims, and for several innkeepers. We walked around the building outside, in the ice, and knocked at all the doors- and were rejected and sent away (very politely). Finally someone said we could come in and sleep in the barn. 


Then we broke the piñata that I made last year.

This year the procession at the door is more than 50 men and women who really are homeless. I feel humbled and moved by the efforts of all the volunteers to allow these people to sleep indoors tonight.