What is Posada?
You may have seen the notice in Pews News in the last few weeks, encouraging you to sign up for Posada and have thought: What on earth is Posada? Here is the answer.
Posada is an old Mexican tradition where young people dressed as Mary and Joseph travelled from house to house asking for a room for the night and telling people about the imminent arrival of Jesus in the weeks before Christmas. On Christmas Eve they would visit the local church to re-enact the nativity and place figures of Mary and Joseph in a crib.
Modern day Posada uses nativity figures of Mary and Joseph who travel from place to place. This gives each ‘host’ the chance to create their own celebration in their home or place in the community, worshipping and reaching out to their communities with the real message of Christmas, making room for Jesus in their lives.
Those who have taken part in previous years have enjoyed the experience and found that it added to the meaning of Advent; Will you be a host to Mary and Joseph for a night this year?
All you need to do is choose a night that will suit you to ‘host’ Mary & Joseph and complete the online form below. The previous host will make arrangements to bring the figures to your place at a time to suit both of you.
On the day you receive Mary & Joseph you can do what ever you like. Some people just have a coffee with the previous night’s host; others arrange a party, small or large, and invite friends from within and beyond the church to join them to celebrate the arrival of the Holy Family in their home.
The next day you need to take Mary & Joseph to the next host on the Journey Rota at a mutually convenient time. On Sundays we do the “handover” in church at one of the services, so other members of the congregation can join in.