Las Posadas Navideñas: Journeying to Bethlehem alongside the Holy Family
With the Advent season well underway, Catholics are fully expectant, preparing spiritually for the birth of their Savior at Christmas on Dec. 25.
Las Posadas Navideñas (Christmas Inns) are part of the preparations. A lively, faith-filled tradition celebrated in Mexico and by Latin Americans in some parts of the United States, they are observed during the nine nights leading up to Christmas, from Dec. 16 to Dec. 24. They commemorate the arduous trek from Nazareth to Bethlehem of the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph as they sought lodging before Jesus’ birth.
According to Sister Susi Miranda, a Xaverian Missionary Sister of Mary at St. Bernard Church in Worcester, Massachusetts, the tradition of Las Posadas “was born as a devotion of accompaniment to the Holy Family, who journeyed, who sought, and as a way to say, ‘We walk alongside them.’”
(Photo Credit: OSV News photo/Nancy Wiechec)