GILROY
– Holding burning candles and singing Christmas carols, Posada
was celebrated by about 50 Gilroy High School students and family
members crowded beneath the school’s clocktower Wednesday
evening.
By Lori Stuenkel
GILROY – Holding burning candles and singing Christmas carols, Posada was celebrated by about 50 Gilroy High School students and family members crowded beneath the school’s clocktower Wednesday evening.
La Posada, Spanish for “inn” or “lodging,” is a Christmas celebration popular in the Mexican culture.
“It’s a re-creation of that pilgrimage that the virgin and Joseph had,” said Veronica Alfaro, an academic coordinator at GHS who attended the event.
Alfaro said she grew up celebrating Las Posadas and knew by heart the carols sung Wednesday.
Las Posadas are celebrated on the nine evenings leading up to Christmas, beginning Dec. 16 and ending Dec. 24, also known as the novena.
In Mexico, families traditionally visit each others’ homes during each evening of the novena.
“We did it for the community,” said Junior Artemio Arteaga, president of the GHS Latinos Program, which organized the event along with the Latinas Program. “To bring the community more together and … in a peaceful way.”
Saint Mary Parish’s Father Francisco Miramontez led the Posada, summarizing the story of Mary and Joseph’s pilgrimage before the singing began. Traveling from classroom to classroom, the group re-enacted Mary and Joseph’s search for lodgings.
One group of participants entered each classroom, acting as inn-keepers. The rest of the participants, led by Jorge Plata and Lupe Corea, both seniors, portraying Joseph and Mary, sang to ask for a place to say. Miramontez led the a capella singing of traditional Mexican Posada verses:
“In the name of heaven/ I ask you for posada/ For my beloved wife/ Can no longer go on.”
And the reply inside the classroom:
“This is not an inn/ Keep walking/ I will not open/ You might be a ruffian.”
In the Posada, the group asking for shelter is usually rejected several times.
The travellers at GHS were rejected at three classrooms before being admitted into the College and Career Center, where everyone shared snacks and hot chocolate.
GHS student Carmen Enriquez said the Posada songs were unfamiliar to her, although she has family members living in Mexico who celebrate the tradition every December.
“I wanted to come and support the Latinos program,” she said.
Latinos Program Adviser Jose Hernandez, who teaches, said he hopes to continue the Posada tradition each year. Latinos also celebrated Posada with a similar ceremony in 2001.
