Sisters celebrates La Posada

Angelina Bello-Tapia at La Posada. photo by Jim Mitchell On December 16 the Sisters Hispanic community celebrated a traditional Christmas-time La Posada.

The date set for the monthly Hispanic community meeting at CATS coincided with the traditional date for the beginning of the nine-day celebration of the birth of Christ.

"Posada" in Spanish simply means lodging or shelter.

About 45 Sisters adults and children, mostly Hispanic, walked from the CATS office to two pre-arranged houses near the Village Green. Lighted candles were carried in paper cups, each giving a warm glow to the face of the holder. Symbolically turned away at each house, the walkers returned to CATS for food and festivities.

The walk was to symbolize the journey of Mary and Joseph as they were refused shelter on their cold and difficult journey to Bethlehem.

Traditionally the posada is repeated for nine days. Each one of these nights before Christmas, a party is held in a home in the neighborhood. There is plenty of food and drink, with candies and fruit for the children.

Each posada ends with the breaking of a piñata.

The piñata is a fragile earthenware or paper container, traditionally made in the shape of a star, to recall the one that guided the Three Kings to the newborn Jesus. It is filled with candy, toys, and sometimes money. A child is blindfolded, turned around a few times, given a stick and a chance to break it. When the piñata is broken, the children scramble for the spilled contents.

In the late 1500s Spanish missionaries introduced the nine-day remembrance to the Indians of Mexico.

Solemn and deeply religious at first, a spirit of fun entered into the observances.

Eventually the event left the church and began to be celebrated in people's homes. The posadas have become a community affair with friends, relatives, and neighbors getting together to share in the festivities, visiting a different house each evening. The Sisters posada ended at the CATS office, where the table was filled with food and the children celebrated with a traditional piñata.

La Posada concluded with Marie Clasen explaining the process of applying for a Habitat for Humanity house and with Theresa Slavkovsky talking about what Family Access Network (FAN) could provide.

Information was provided in Spanish as well as English. Toni Landers, coordinator for the Hispanic program, sees the meetings as a channel for information to the Hispanic community in Sisters.