Las Posadas

Las Posadas

One of the many revelers participating in Olvera Street's rendition of Las Posadas (Photo by Frank Damon)

By Penny Orloff

Downtown's 6,000 year old tradition

The Olvera Street Merchants will hold their annual Las Posadas festivities
from Dec. 16 through Dec. 24. The free event begins every evening at 6pm, with a traditional, costumed procession starting at 7:30pm at the oldest house in Los Angeles, Olvera Street's historic Avila Adobe.

The Posada, imported long ago from Mexico, is a short procession that reenacts the Christmas Eve journey of Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem, searching for shelter. Each observant Latino community has its own version of the ancient religious ritual. In most iterations, every evening of the nine-day festival the people gather to pray before nacimiento, a Nativity scene. They form a candlelight procession, usually led by a priest and guitar-strumming musicians, with children portraying Mary and Joseph; often "Mary" is riding a burro. The procession continues down a selected street of private casitas before which various live Nativity scenes feature costumed neighbors.

Everyone in the procession sings Christmas carols (villancicos), which ask for "posada" (shelter) at the inn. At each doorway, they are turned away, and move on to the next house. This continues until Christmas Eve, when at last "Mary and Joseph" are welcomed inside, the assembled say the rosary together, and the Christ child – usually a doll, but occasionally a real baby – is placed on a bed of straw. After a midnight Mass, a party begins with music, food and drink, and games.

The festival is quickly gaining popularity in both the immigrant and nonimmigrant communities throughout the United States, but the most well-known in the U.S. is on Olvera Street in Los Angeles.

Las Posadas has been celebrated on Olvera Street since the 1930s. In today's Posadas, the merchant families begin their candlelit procession at the Avila Adobe with neighborhood children taking the parts of Mary and Joseph. Singing hymns and holiday songs in Spanish and English, they stop at individual shops, asking for shelter. Time after time they are turned away, until finally the doors of their final stop swing wide and the pilgrims enter singing. Traditional pastries – pan dulce – and hot chocolate are brought out, children break colorful piñatas filled with candy, and live Mexican music fills the air. The descendants of many of the founding Olvera Street merchant families continue to preserve this beloved holiday tradition, inviting the public to participate.

The Posadas ritual dates back to the sixteenth century and St. Ignatius Loyola, who used an Aztec festival to teach the New World's indigenous population about the birth of Christ. When the Spanish conquistadores invaded South America, they observed that, around the time of the winter solstice, the Mayans, Toltecs, Chichintecas, and Aztecs paraded with their sacred animals under arches of roses. Dressed in their best clothes and chanting sacred songs, they honored the birth of the Sun god. Their ancient legends told of a virgin who had been struck by a ball of feathers, became pregnant, and eventually gave birth to Huitzilopochtli, reborn every year at the winter solstice. 

Noting the similarities between the solstice stories of Huitzilopochtli and Jesus, the conquistadores co-opted the native processions by combining Christianity with the Pagan ritual. The processions – estimated to be at least six thousand years old - arrived in Los Angeles about 200 years later with the 11 founding families recruited from Alamos, in Sonora, New Spain (Mexico). These families, of indigenous, European, and African origin, brought their age-old customs and religious traditions to the new Pueblo of Los Angeles, near the present site of Olvera Street, in 1781.

Over the years, Las Posadas changed from a liturgical Church ceremony to a Christmas pageant conducted by the Olvera Street merchant familes, friends, and neighbors. The public is an important part of the celebration as they form the procession and join with the choirs in singing traditional Mexican and American songs.

Olvera Street is part of El Pueblo Historical Monument and is located between Main and Alameda Streets in Downtown Los Angeles. Public parking is available at nearby lots on Main, Los Angeles, and Alameda Streets. Public transportation is also available via the Metrolink, MTA rail, and bus service to Union Station. For more information on Las Posadas please call (213) 625-7074 or (213) 485-8372, or visit www.elpueblo.lacity.org

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