🕯️Las Posadas

About Las Posadas

Las Posadas is a beloved Christmas tradition celebrated across Mexico and much of Latin America over nine nights, from December 16 to 24. "Posada" is Spanish for "inn" or "lodging," and the nine nights represent the nine months of Mary's pregnancy as well as her and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem in search of a place to stay. It is a community celebration that blends deep religious meaning with food, music and festivity in the run-up to Christmas Eve.

Each evening neighbours form a candlelit procession, often led by children dressed as angels and figures of Mary and Joseph, who go from house to house singing the traditional villancico that asks for shelter. The hosts at first refuse, then welcome the pilgrims inside, where the gathering breaks into prayer, hot ponche punch, tamales and a star-shaped piñata whose seven points symbolize the seven deadly sins. The celebrations build to Nochebuena, Christmas Eve, on the final night.

Historians trace Las Posadas to Augustinian friars in 16th-century Mexico, who used the processions to teach the Nativity story; a 1586 papal decree formalized the "Misas de Aguinaldo" between December 16 and 24. Because the dates are fixed, Las Posadas always fills the nine evenings leading up to Christmas. The counter above shows exactly how long until it begins — add it to your own page to count down to the first night of song.