Today we are surrounded by many people from distinct cultures and backgrounds. Aside from what the years have changed in society, most cultures still celebrate their heritage culture. I, for one of many, fall into that category. Being Hispanic we are very familiar with having big families, meaning that during the holidays there is something always going on. Therefore Christmas time is my personal favorite time of the year. We celebrate it with all the family gathering, food, Posada, and “El Dia de Los Reyes”. We celebrate Christmas by what is called the “Mexican Christmas”, which I’m sure many Hispanics are familiar with as well since it is a huge part of our culture and heritage.
We start off Christmas on December 16th with an event leading up to Christmas Eve called “Posada”. Posada is Spanish for “Lodging” meaning a place where someone lives or stays. We usually get together with a few neighbors, friends, and relatives to go door to door asking for lodging. This goes back to our culture and religion background to when Joseph and the Virgin Mary were out to look for a place to stay the night of Christmas Eve to have baby Jesus. What we do during this time is we go from neighbor to neighbor (of course all planned out) asking for a place to stay but most would reject because there would be no more room in their living space. After finding a place to stay we go inside and say a prayer giving thanks for the place. At the end of the night we celebrate with music, food, and piñata. This goes on for nine days and ends with an even bigger celebration.
The Essay on Christmas Traditions
... adults stay to pray and celebrate that they found a place for Saint Joseph and Virgin Mary. The families celebrate Christmas by ... have our different ways to celebrate Christmas. In Latin culture we have our unique way to celebrate the birth of baby ... we start celebrating Christmas five-days before Christmas Eve.We start celebrating Christmas Eve by going to Church and having the last posada, as a ...
The night of Christmas Eve is my favorite after the celebration is done with the Posada. All my family gets together, usually always at my aunt’s house, and we wait for it to be midnight. As we wait for it to be midnight we say prayers and put baby Jesus back to sleep. We make our wishes and light sparklers to celebrate the night of Jesus being born.
We do believe that Christmas should be celebrated through Jesus because we believe he is the reason for Christmas and we should honor that. My family and I do this every year with lots of family members coming in from all around the city; it is our tradition. Also, we do not feast or celebrate anything else until we are thoroughly done with prayers. After all is done we have dinner about one in the morning. We have tamales, posole, ponche (Mexican hot drink), hot chocolate, bread, cake, and candy. Along we have music and later comes the piñata for the kids and sometimes the adults.
My family is the type to have fun and dance so by the end of the night when all is done we get to the dancing and singing and of course, the drunks. What makes it so unique is that it is different every year; no one year is the same.
Lastly, the last event we celebrate for Christmas is “El Dia de los Reyes” (the day of the three Kings); generally speaking is epiphany. This event begins on January 6th of every year and what we do is we celebrate by eating a special cake made for that day called “Rosca de Reyes”. In this bread cake there are small baby Jesus figures hidden inside. Whoever receives a small baby Jesus while eating a piece of the cake is now the Godparent of that figure and must provide dinner for everyone else. There are multiple babies hidden in the bread so the chances of someone getting the hidden baby are sometimes high.
On February 2nd we all get together again and that is when the people who got the baby Jesus figure get to make dinner. In my family, we cook food like tamales, posole, or anything big that is usually only eaten on big events.
The Essay on Modern Day Families Lou Anne
Modern Day Families Modern families, while they may contain a different amount of members, or members of a different race, than the stereotypical family, are still an amalgamated unit and have the same love for one another no matter how many people, or of what race certain people are, are in it. In Barbara Kingsolver s novel, the Bean Trees, this is proven many times, especially in the bond shared ...
During the day of the three Kings there is also a little present leaving, usually only for the children. As kids we would leave our shoe out for the kings and we would wake up in the morning with a present by our shoe. Of course growing up we began to catch on like we did with Santa Clause and every other fantasy holiday symbol. We don’t really celebrate the day as much today as we did before, meaning we don’t leave out shoe out anymore but we do still honor the day.
Although the years pass by, the tradition we do with my culture in my family never change, but do grow. I look forward to this every year because I enjoy spending time with my family and having everyone together. Something about having everyone I know and love around in the same place brings a warm feeling to me.
I believe that no matter what religion, background, race, culture, or ethnic heritage we belong to, we all still honor or celebrate something that falls into our background; whether it’s from the way some of us dress to the way we celebrate or don’t celebrate certain holidays or days in history important to each.
I understand that a lot of people don’t and won’t understand my culture or heritage or why I celebrate certain holidays the way I do; that won’t happen just as I won’t be able to do the reverse as well. Everyone comes from a distinct background and I think that’s what I love the most about where I live or where I go to school or in my everyday life. There is always something to learn from someone, although I may not agree or be forth what they believe in, I do respect it.
Like I mentioned before, Christmas is my favorite holiday and most likely always will be. Everything about that time just seems to be going right, even for a few days. My culture will always be my personal favorite and I will honor that and pass it on to my kids. We can all learn something from someone at some point, and definitely pass on the knowledge to grow our world into a better place.
