(VIDEO) Christmas in Mexico – All Year Long? [] Rotary Club Program

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YouTube Link:  https://youtu.be/UWfNSPuV-n0

Mexico offers some of the most unique and colorful traditions in the world and Christmas in Mexico is truly an extravaganza!

Aldo Ibarra, political consultant and Follow-Me Tours guide, spoke about some of the mysteries and questions about the celebration of Christmas in Mexico from the Prehispanic period, through the Viceregal period, and into modern times. We  learned of the debate historians have had about the origins of the celebrations for Christmas in Mexico.

Many aspects of Mexican culture are a mix of ancient, indigenous heritage and Spanish culture. Did the Spaniards bring the tradition into Mexico or did they adapt the celebration to the way indigenous people celebrated the Panquetzaliztli?

In Mexico, Christmas starts on December 16th with a nine-day celebration known as “posadas.” These celebrations commemorate Mary and Joseph’s pilgrimage before Jesus’ birth, but it originated in an Aztec tradition of Panquetzaliztli which celebrates the winter solstice and the birth of the new sun. In 1587 Fray Diego de Soria took his idea of turning Panquetaliztli into a Christmas celebration to the Pope. For a little over a century, the posadas only took place in churches, until the eighteenth-century, when it was secularized and adopted by each state with their own different traditions.

What else do we want to know?

Did you know that Quetzalcoatl tried to take over Santa in Mexico? Or did you know that some Mexican families like to celebrate Christmas all year long? What does a “pinata” symbolize? Have you ever been a guest of honor for the Christmas recalentado?