Posada Round-up

Today is the first day we’ve had no commitments, so we are enjoying sitting round the house in our pyjamas. A brief respite before the next visitors arrive on Christmas Eve.

We’ve finished all our Christmas parties - here’s a round-up:

Gymboree Posada A Posada is a Christmas party in Mexico, but the word posada means “inn” and the name of the party derives from a Mexican tradition of re-enacting the journey of Mary and Joseph to find shelter. In some towns the posada is a big deal and there will be parades through the centre where they sing a traditional song, stopping at designated places to ask for shelter and being turned away, before finally being admitted. A lot of Mexican families re-enact it by dividing into two groups - the inside and the outside group, who will stop at various windows around the house singing the song, before they are finally let in the door. Not all Christmas parties we have been to have a traditional posada, but they did at the Gymboree party - the first time I have witnessed it. We didn’t wander round the windows and doors, but we split into two groups and sang the song.

Afterwards the kids all met Santa and sat on his lap to receive a present (yes, kids still sit on Santa’s lap here, unlike in Australia - the last time we were there for Christmas, Guerita had to sit beside Santa with no touching at all!). Chiq had her first encounter with Santa which, predictably, ended up like this

Rocky’s work Posada The same day we went onto the work party which was held at a restaurant a little out of town, set on a working farm. It was great for the kids, with a huge playground and a horse and carriage rides around the farm. We had Carne Asada - a speciality of the region which is a hot plate piled high with steak, ribs, tortillas, served with salad, guacamole, frijoles (beans), queso fundido (melted cheese). We avoided the tripita (tripe) though. I cannot stomach something that, honestly, looks like a pile of turd on a plate.

Mexican Christmas parties also usually include a piñata; they are not just limited to birthday parties. At Christmas they are traditionally in the shape of a a seven pointed star, representing the devil and the seven deadly sins, and the lollies inside are the blessings he is withholding, which you release by whacking it till it splits. Interestingly, our star piñata only had five points - maybe sloth and gluttony are allowable sins at Christmas time.

Guerita’s social schedule was action packed with a school posada, a ballet posada and a birthday party all on Wednesday and another birthday party on Thursday. Just to confuse matters, not only is a piñata a papier maché figure filled with lollies, but also what they call a birthday party here. So she gets invited to piñatas where they have a piñata.

I know there is a trend in Australia for birthday parties to be over the top, but let me tell you, they go ALL OUT here:

• both of these recent parties were held at indoor play centres (that cater exclusively for birthday parties) with bouncy castles and playground equipment
• both had a theme (Disney Princess for one, Lazytown for the other) which was reflected in the cake, decorations and birthday girls’ costume
• both had (in addition to all the fun stuff already there for the kids to do) hired a clown/face painter or a magician to put on a show for the kids
• both birthday girls (and their mothers) had been to the hairdresser to have their hair done. The girl who’s party was on the same day as the ballet posada told me her daughter wasn’t going to the ballet party because it would muck up her hair and outfit for the party, which wouldn’t look good in the photos
• both had also hired a professional photographer to take photos of the party, the birthday girl, her family, the cake and all of the above in endless poses.

This is a photo I (surreptitiously) took with my phone
of the birthday girl posing on the cake table for a photo

After all that….finally, a day at home to relax and do a little bit of Christmas preparation. This is what we acheived