| Christmas In MEXICO
 Several
weeks before Christmas, elaborately decorated market stalls or
puestos are set up in the plazas of every town and city. Some
people travel for days from remote areas to get to these
markets. The puestos offer crafts of every conceivable kind,
foods such as cheese, bananas, nuts, and cookies, and flowers
such as orchids and poinsettias.
The poinsettia is native to Mexico and is believed to have
first been used in connection with Christmas in the 17th century
when Mexican Franciscans included the flowers in their Christmas
celebration. There is a legend connected with the flower. A
little boy named Pablo was walking to the church in his village
to visit the Nativity scene, when he realized he had nothing to
offer the Christ Child. He saw some green branches growing along
the roadside and gathered them up. Other children scoffed, but
when he laid them by the manger, a brilliant red star-shaped
flower appeared on each branch.
The main Christmas celebration in Mexico is called las
posadas, which refers to processions reenacting Joseph and
Mary's search for a place to stay in Bethlehem. The processions
begin nine days before Christmas because the original journey
from Nazareth to Bethlehem took nine days. Friends and family
members divide themselves into two groups - pilgrims and
innkeepers. The pilgrims travel from house to house asking for a
shelter and are refused at each until they finally reach the
house where an alter and Nativity scene have been set up. Here
the pilgrims are admitted with great rejoicing, a traditional
prayer is spoken, and the party begins. Food and drink are
served and then children take turns trying to break open the
pinata.
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