Primera Posada Navideña

On Thursday, December 8th, the Spanish Club hosted a celebration of the traditional Latin-American and Spanish holiday Las Posada. The event included tortilla española, ponche, and other traditional Spanish and Mexican Christmas foods in addition to Spanish Christmas villancicos (or carols) and piñatas.

Posadas are parties that begin on December 16 and culminate on Christmas Eve, the 24th. Posada means "inn" in English and the parties celebrate Mary and Joseph's search for shelter to have their baby. The celebrations last nine days, each day representing a month of Mary's pregnancy. Groups of people go around to different houses and sing a special villancico, or carol, asking for posada until they reach the house where the celebration will be held. At these parties, people enjoy time with their families, drink hot punch, and pass out small bags of goodies that contain things like peanuts, nuts, cookies, oranges, and other traditional candy. During this time there are also special star piñatas with seven point representing the seven sins. The base of the piñata is a clay pot and the breaking of these piñatas signifies the destruction of the seven sins.

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