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Nov 19, 2012 | Harper Scott Clark

Salado to Celebrate Community Posada Dec. 8

posada st. joseph's pic

The Rev. Bob Bliss tells Jose and Maria there is no
room for them to rest during La Posada 2011.

Las Posadas, the nine day Christmas tradition observed in Spain, Mexico and the Southwest United States, will be celebrated as La Posada, a one day event, in Salado during the community’s Christmas stroll.

 

The Spanish term means inn, place of lodging or accommodations. In some ways the spirit of Las Posadas is similar to the English custom of caroling.

 

It dates back 400 years in Mexico and recreates the journey of Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem.

 

Each year the same drama is played out. Though thoroughly rehearsed, what will happen will seem fresh and exciting to the young people taking part. Dressed in period clothing, they will begin at the gate to the old ruins on College Hill and then lead a candle light procession down Main Street a distance of two miles. Along the way they will stop to ask for lodging and a place to rest.

 

Of course there is no room at any inn until they reach St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church. There, too, the Rev. Bob Bliss will apologize at first for the lack of lodging.

 

“It’s the week for the Christmas Stroll,” Bliss will tell them. “Every room in Salado is taken by tourists.”

 

Then Bliss will have a thought. He will lead the couple to a stable behind the church. There he will offer to settle them in for the night in mounds of hay. 

 

In its third year, the event has established itself as a new tradition in Salado as part of its Christmas Season. Participants are members of St. Joseph’s Youth Group and Spanish language students from Belton High School. They spend weeks practicing the para pedir posada (searching for lodging) in a call and response chorus.

 

Barbara Yanez-Smith, a Spanish language teacher, gave a loose translation of the words. The first chorus asks for a place to rest, she said. “Let me in, my wife is Maria, she is the Queen of Heaven.”

 

The second chorus responds, “Well, if she is the Queen of Heaven why is she out in the middle of the night wandering about?”

 

At the final destination there is unison of choruses, Yanez-Smith said.

 

“Entren santos peregrinos – come on in, we had not recognized you – we now see you’re Jose and this is your wife Maria.”

 

Last year nearly 200 participants took part. Afterwards they gathered in the church courtyard to be served tamales, empanadas, hot chocolate with cinnamon and fruit punch. Small children batted a piñata for the candy inside.

 

La Posada will be from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Dec. 8. The public is invited to take part.

 

Tyler Fletcher, an organizer with St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church, said La Posada is meant to impart the religious significance of the season to Salado’s Christmas Stroll – a mostly commercial event.

 

St. Joseph's, Salado, is located at 945 Main St.