The Four “P’s” Of Christmas in Mexico
Pastoral: The acting out of the nativity at Isaiah & Micah’s school. Sermon given by liberation theology pastor. Street blocked off for the evening. Community gathered outside. Isaiah was a cow and Micah was a sheep. (They were fantastic!)
Everyone lit a candle as we all sang Silent Night, Holy Night. (Noche de Paz, Noche de Amor.)
Ponche: Traditional drink at Christmas time. A hot cider-like drink with chunks of pineapple, crabapples and a slice of sugarcane. Served after the Posada.
Posadas: Every night from December 16th to December 23rd. The enactment of the search for space for Mary to give birth to Jesus in Bethlehem. Includes a group of people walking down the street with candles and singing outside closed gates. The people on the inside of the gates sing verses such as “Who are you?” and “Why do you need room?” The people outside the closed gates sing back verses of responses, “I am Joseph, and I am Mary we are looking for a place to stay.”
After many verses, the gates are flung open, and everyone celebrates by breaking piñatas and drinking ponche.
Piñata: Colorful ceramic container covered with crepe paper and 3 or 4 long cones that look like “horns.” Represents the devil. Children’s object is to smash the “devil” with a stick. Contents: oranges, sugar cane, jicama, animal crackers, hard candies. Everyone sings: “Dale dale dale, no pierdes el tino, porque si lo pierdes, pierdes el camino”
(Which means “Stay focused on your goal of breaking the piñata/devil.”) Four or more piñatas are smashed each night, as a culminating activity to the Posada.
Labels: Cuernavaca
posted by familia dyrst @ 7:42 AM
3 Comments:
Yay for ponche! Except in Guatemala, it has papayas and coconut in it, too. Blessings and a big hug to all of you.
-Beth Peachey
Hello! Beth gave me your blogsite so I could read up on poverty before I go to volunteer for a year in Nicaragua (I leave tomorrow morning). There was a comment in response to the notes on poverty that asked for advice about what to do when folks approach on the street to ask for money.
What do you think?
Thanks!
Rachael
Rachael: In reponse to your question, when I lived in Mexico and Central America I would sometimes carry fruit or some other food with me to give to people who ask for money. One advantage of this is that the person is likely in need of food and can actually eat the food. Sometimes, especially in big cities, when people beg, there is another person who takes a share of or all of what they receive. I have also, when I have had time (not often enough) invited people to somewhere I can buy them a plate of food. When people would come to our home we would sometimes do this. But in those cases you need to realize that you will likely get many people coming to your door. I have a friend in Chicago who always keeps loose dollar bills in his pocket and gives one dollar to anyone who asks, following Jesus' dictum pretty literally. An interesting response was described in an article some years ago in Friends Journal. The author described his dilemma of repsonding to those who ask for money and his solution of asking the person to grant him an interview for which he pays (I think $5) and he has a set of 4-5 questions he asks, which help him to establish a human connection and to understand something of the life situation of the other. One time in Honduras I stood and watched a blind beggar on a busy street for 30 minutes. The boy received approximately 3-4 lempiras, $2 at that time's exchange rate which was close to what some people earned per day in Honduras in 1979 (and perhaps today, too).
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