Christmas+Customs+from+Mexico

=**The purpose of this page is to identify**= =**various Christmas customs from Mexico. (Garcia)**=

**In Mexico, Christmas is celebrated from the December 12th to January 6th.**
==**Mexicans share many traditions with the Spanish. Their main Christmas celebration is called La Posada, which is a religious procession that reenacts the search for shelter by Joseph and Mary before the birth of Jesus.**== ==**Posada is Spanish for Inn or Lodging. There are nine Posadas. These celebrate the part of the Christmas story where Joseph and Mary looked for a room in an Inn. For the Posadas, the outside of houses are decorated with evergreens, moss and paper lanterns.**== ==**In each Posada, children are given candles and a board, with painted clay figures of Mary riding on a donkey and Joseph, to process round the streets with. They call at the houses of friends and neighbours and sing a song at each home. (Devyn)**== ==**One game that is often played at Posada parties is Piñata. A piñata is a decorated clay or papier-mâché jar filled with sweets and hung from the ceiling or tree branch. The piñata is often decorated something like a ball with seven peaks around it. The peaks or spikes represent the 'seven deadly sins'. piñata's can also be in the form of an animal or bird (such as a donkey). To play the game, children are blind folded and take it in turns to tap the piñata with a stick until it splits open and the sweets pour out. Then the children rush to pick up as many sweets as they can! (Myesha)**== ==**In Mexico, children get their main presents at Epiphany (January 6th). (see Spain for more information). In Mexico Epiphany is known as 'El Dia de los Reyes' (the day of The Three Kings). The presents are left by the Three Kings (or Magi). It's traditional to eat a special cake called 'Rosca de Reyes' (Three Kings Cake) on Epiphany. A figure of Baby Jesus is hidden inside the cake. Whoever has the baby Jesus in their piece of cake is the 'Godparent' of Jesus for that year on another important day, Candelaria which is on the 2nd February and is the end of the Mexican christmas celebrations! (Myesha)**== ==**The most exciting part of the celebration comes now...the breaking of the pinata. A pinata is a clay or papier mache shape filled with sweets and toys. It is hung up high and dangles on a long string. In a games the children have sticks and try to break the pinata to release the toys and sweets held within. (Lexi and Traylee)**== ==**There are nine days of festivals in Mexico which make up the Christmas celebration. These are called the Posadas. They start on December 16th and end on December 24th. Posadas means inn or place to lodge. The festival comemorates the journey taken by Mary and Joseph when they went to Bethlehem. (Jacob)**==