Posadas – Seeking Shelter

The Posadas are a Latin American religious celebration celebrated just before Christmas. An example of popular piety they are often celebrated in neighborhoods as a way to prepare for Christmas. It reenacts the journey of Mary and Joseph seeking shelter in Bethlehem. In some places children dress up as Joseph and Mary, in other images of Mary and Joseph or a nativity set is carried, sometimes on ornate floats.

For several evenings – the number varies from place to place – people go in procession to one or more houses. This is all prearranged and so no one is surprised by a visit of Mary and Joseph.

One group waits outside while another is within with the people who live there. Some one knocks and those inside ask, “Who is it ?” “Mary and Joseph,” answer those outside. They then begin a song that alternates between both groups.

The innkeeper is wary of these visitors, but finally gives in and Mary and Joseph and all those outside enter as all sing, “Enter pilgrims!”

After this prayers are read and Christmas hymns are sung. In some houses a treat is shared with all.

This year our base community decided to celebrate the posadas in our neighborhood, starting Monday, December 15. This was the first time they had been celebrated in our neighborhood for many years.

We visited a good number of houses in the neighborhood and the last evening we went to the houses of the mother and sister of one neighbor in another part of Santa Rosa.

What struck me was the difference in the houses. Some were poor; others showed that the family were a little better off but lived fairly simply; a few were fairly nice houses (with big televisions). But we were received kindly in all of them.

Monday night at the last posada they asked me to read the final prayer. Before I led the prayer I commented that this was my first posadas in Honduras and that I was grateful for the welcomes that I had received from the people here.

I am touched by a deep sense of the hospitality of the people here – not just the people in the neighborhood, but especially by the poor I meet in the countryside. They have given me posada – a place at the inn – sometimes giving me a bed while others share a bed, always sharing food with me, and always being so welcoming ad tolerating my Spanish when I do a session with the kids or give a reflection at a celebration of the Word.

Their hospitality is a gift.

As I reflect on this I think of all those who have welcomed me into their homes, especially on my travels. I also think of the times I have had friends come and stay over or enjoy a meal. I also am grateful for the times I’ve been able to open my house to refugees from El Salvador and Guatemala and to a student from Chiapas, Mexico. My hosts and my guests have enriched my lives.

In this time when we remember Joseph and Mary seeking shelter, when the world is full of refugees seeking shelter, when the US is torn apart by migrants, many from Central America, seeking a decent life, it is good to remember the many times we have been blessed by guests and by those who welcomed us as guests.

And so I recall Hebrews 13:3:

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers,
for thereby some have entertained angels unaware.”

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This year we had a special visitor for the last two posadas - Saint Nicholas/Santa Claus.