Las Posadas, nine nights looking for a room

When it is kept: December 16 to 24
Where it fits in the year: Advent

Posada is the Spanish word for lodging or inn. Las Posadas is a nine-night celebration kept from December 16 to 24 in Mexico, across Latin America and by many families elsewhere.¹ Each night two people play Mary and Joseph and go to homes chosen as inns. They sing, are turned away at first, and are finally welcomed in. Inside, the group prays at a nativity scene, sings carols and shares food, and many nights end with a piñata.^1,2 Many say the nine nights stand for the nine months Mary carried Jesus.¹

The custom is tied to Augustinian friars at the convent of San Agustin at Acolman, near Mexico City. Friar Diego de Soria got permission from Pope Sixtus V to hold special Christmas masses on the nine days before Christmas. Sources date this to 1586 or 1587, so it is safest to say the 1580s.^1,2 Those first Posadas were church services. The outdoor procession, the song asking for lodging and the piñata were added over time, and by the 1800s the party had moved into neighborhoods and homes.^2,1

Piñatas came to Mexico from Europe in the 1500s. Where the idea began before that is debated.³ The star with seven points is often explained as seven bad habits, with the stick for goodness, the blindfold for faith and the falling sweets for God’s kindness. That is a teaching meaning added to the piñata, not documented history.^3,2 Posadas are held in the United States too. One procession on the San Antonio River Walk has run since 1966.¹

Disputed

Some historians think the friars started Las Posadas to take the place of an Aztec winter festival. The timing overlaps, but no source shows that this was the reason. A priest quoted by EWTN News says the friars were comparing Christ to the sun.^1,2

In the Bible

While they were there, the day had come for her to give birth. She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Luke 2:6-7

Luke says there was no room for them in the inn. Las Posadas acts out the search for a room, though Luke does not describe Mary and Joseph going from door to door.