When you think about Christmas, you assume snow and cold, but not in Mexico. When it comes to Christmas down south the weather is warm and mild during the holiday season. Families decorate their homes with colorful flowers, moss, lanterns and evergreens.
From December 16 until Christmas Eve families
participate in “Las Pasadas” for nine nights. The children are given candles and figures of Mary and Joseph. Many Mexican children receive gifts from Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.
The children sing about Joseph and Mary asking for a room in the house, and when they are told that there is no room in the house, they have to go away. However, they are eventually told there is a room and are welcomed in. Each night a different house holds the Pasada party with food, games like piñata and fireworks. A piñata is a clay or box filled with sweets and hung from the ceiling, often decorated like a ball with seven peaks around it. The peaks or spikes represent the “seven deadly sins.” The blindfolded children are spun around and given a big stick, and they take turns trying to break open the piñata while the piñata is raised and lowered.
The ninth evening of Las Pasadas is Christmas Eve known as “Buena Noche,” and it is considered the most
important day of the year to spend time with loved ones. A manger and the figures are put on display. When the Pasada house has been found, a baby Jesus is put into the manger called “Nacimiento” and
everyone attends Midnight Mass. After the church
service, the church bells ring out and fireworks light up the sky.
Christmas Day is a time for church and family. After church services, Christmas dinner
traditionally consists of oxtail soup with beans and hot
chili, roasted turkey and a
salad of fresh fruits and vegetables.
On Epiphany, or Twelfth Night which is January 5
some children get presents from the “Los Reyes Magos,” or the Three Kings who pass through on their way to
Bethlehem. Children leave their shoes on the windowsill and find them filled with a little gift the next morning. Christmas Trees are becoming more
popular in Mexico, but the most important decoration is still the “Nacimiento.”
It’s also traditional to
eat a special cake called “Rosca de Reyes” or Three Kings Cake on Epiphany. A figure of
baby Jesus is hidden inside the cake and whoever has the baby Jesus in their piece of cake is the “Godparent” of Jesus for that year and has to give a tamale party on February 2, called “Candlemas.” The whole family helps prepare the tamales, which are a meat or chicken wrapped in corn dough. A religious service held on “Candlemas” marks the end of the Christmas season in Mexico.
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