2. Hola! Welcome to Mexico! My name is Daniel. I live in Mexico
City and I’d be happy to show you around and tell you about how
we celebrate Christmas, or as we call it, La Posada! Let’s go!
3. La Posada celebrates the travel that Mary and Joseph took
before Jesus was born. It takes place nine days before
Christmas Eve.
4. Each night, families go
from house to house
looking for a place to stay,
just like Mary and Joseph
did. When they find
shelter, the families pray
and sing songs. On
Christmas Eve, we go to
church and sing songs at
a midnight Mass.
5. We love to eat a “rosca
de reyes” during Posada.
That means a “Cake of
Kings”. Inside the cake is
a tiny figure of the baby
Jesus. The person who
finds the figure keeps it
until the end of our
Christmas celebration on
February 2nd.
6. Santa brings presents on Christmas Eve but our most
important gift-bringers are the Three Wise Men. They
bring gifts to good children on January 6th, “el dia de
Reyes” or The Day of the Kings. This is the day the
Three Wise Men gave gifts to Jesus, so that is when they
bring them to good children too!
7. It’s time for my favorite tradition… the piñata! A piñata is
a type of container that we make out of clay or papier
mache. We fill it with toys and candy. During our holiday
celebrations, we are blindfolded, spun around, and then
get a chance to try and break the piñata! All the kids race
to get the goodies that are inside!
9. Have you seen the
beautiful Christmas flower
the poinsettia? The
tradition of the poinsettia
at Christmas comes from
Mexico.
10. The legend of the poinsettia is a favorite
here in Mexico. The legend says that long
ago, a poor Mexican girl had no gifts to lay
at the baby Jesus’ manger during a
Christmas Eve church service. She picked
a handful of weeds and sticks on her way to
church and laid them at the manger.
11. Instantly, the weeds and sticks
blossomed into beautiful, bright
red flowers. The visitors at
church called them “flores de
noche buena”, which means
“flowers of the holy night”. From
then on, poinsettias became one
of the symbols of Christmas.
12. That was so fun! It’s
time for me to leave for
La Posada with my
family. I wonder who
will give us shelter
tonight?
13. I hope that you
had fun learning
about our
traditions! Feliz
Navidad!
