Holidays in Latin America celebrate faith, family and community in a festive, sometimes whimsical style. Traditions range from waking people up with Christmas carols in the middle of the night to carving massive radishes to burning effigies to ward off evil spirits from the year just ended.
In the five centuries since the arrival of the Spanish colonizers in the Western Hemisphere, the Roman Catholic Church has played a huge role in shaping Latin American cultural traditions. Its ceremonies marking the birth of Jesus Christ fill the holiday program, from midnight masses to reenactments of biblical nativity stories. But even as the first Spanish priests and missionaries sought to overturn the spiritual practices of African and indigenous peoples, some rituals have survived, often being absorbed into the observances of the Church.
And as many of these holiday traditions migrated from Spain to Latin America, some migrated to Latinx communities in North America as well.
READ MORE: 25 Christmas traditions and their origins
Las Posadas
For nine nights starting December 16, people disguised as Mary and Joseph (often with Mary on a donkey), lead crowds of Christians through cities in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and parts of the southwest. from the United States, reconstructing the couple’s pilgrimage before the birth of Jesus in a manger in Bethlehem. Every night of las Posadas– which means “inns” in English – the singing processions are diverted from the houses along the way, eventually reaching one that welcomes them for a night of song, scripture, food and entertainment, including piñatas in star shape for kids. On the ninth and final night of the “pilgrimage,” festivities and fireworks abound and in some places lead up to midnight Christmas Mass.
Started by missionaries in Mexico over 400 years ago and codified by a papal bull, the tradition merged Roman Catholic observations around the birth of Christ with the popular Aztec winter solstice festival and the celebration of the goddess. Aztec mother Tonantzin. She was an indigenous pre-Hispanic deity who merged in public consciousness with the iconic Virgin of Guadalupe after an Indian peasant saw an apparition of a brown-skinned Virgin Mary on the same hill where the Tonantzin temple was located .
Horseradish Festival in Oaxaca
Carved radishes are displayed during the “Night of the Radishes” celebration in Oaxaca, Mexico on December 23, 2016. The Night of the Radishes is an annual carving event that has its origins in the colonial period when radishes were introduced by the Spaniards . Farmers have started carving radishes into figurines to attract the attention of customers during the Christmas season.
PATRICIA CASTELLANOS / AFP via Getty Images
On Noche de Rábanos on December 23, people line up for hours in the main plaza of Oaxaca, Mexico to see the intricately carved oversized radishes in everything from nativity scenes to images of Oaxacan folklore as they pass. by the latest political cartoon.
The tradition dates back to the end of the 19e century. Legend has it that two brothers pulled huge misshapen radishes that had been left in the ground too long, and farmers fashioned the vegetables into figurines as curiosities at their annual Christmas market. In 1897, Mayor Francisco Vasconcelos took what had become a marketing gimmick in an area long known for its colorful woodcarvings and launched an official radish carving competition, which now features the work of sculptors of all ages in different categories.
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The Novena of Aguinaldos
Families and communities in Colombia, Ecuador and parts of Venezuela come together for nine nights of prayer, celebrations and religious songs called villancicos, in anticipation of the birth of Christ on December 25. Different houses can accommodate each night. And the faithful also gather to pray in churches, some dressed as Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus, bringing animals seen in the cribs.
An 18eThe Franciscan missionary of the century, Fernando de Jesús Larrea, wrote down the special prayers recited each evening in the novena of Aguinaldos, or the novena to the infant Jesus. Published in 1743, they were modified and updated in 19e century by a nun named Maria Ignacia, who added verses called Los Gozos, usually sung to the tune of guitars and harps at the end of each novena night.
Midnight Mass – La Misa de Gallo
To celebrate the birth of Christ, millions of Catholics in Latin America and much of the world fill churches for midnight mass on December 25, or a few hours before Nochebuena (Christmas Eve). Known throughout much of Latin America as the Mass of Gallo, which literally translates to “the rooster’s mass”, it serves as a collective vigil at the birth of Christ.
In the 5th century, Pope Sixtus III created the custom of celebrating midnight mass in the manger behind the altar of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. Starting the Vigil Mass at “rooster crow,” an ancient Roman expression for the start of a new day at midnight, apparently gave the special mass its name.
In some countries, the readings of the Scriptures and the joyous music of the midnight mass are broadcast on radio or television, like that offered by the Pope to the Vatican.
READ MORE: How Christmas Was Celebrated in the Middle Ages
Parrandas
Christmas party ‘Las Parrandas’ in Remedios, Cuba. In Puerto Rico, las parrandas are very different celebrations.
Photo 12 / Alamy Stock Photo
Parrandas are the ultimate traveling party, fostering a sense of community during the holiday season. But in Cuba and Puerto Rico, the traditions are very different.
In some cities of Cuba, las parrandas Carnival-type festivals are organized, filled with lights, music, floats and fireworks. The tradition is said to have originated in the 19th century in the town of Remedios, when a young priest tried to increase church attendance by sending children to the streets to make noise.
In Puerto Rico, on the other hand, parrandas are more popular celebrations. Groups carrying guitars, trumpets, percussion instruments and portable drums called panderetas Where panderos go to someone’s house in the evening or wake them up in the wee hours of the morning, singing and playing music on their doorstep until the host lets them in. aguinaldos and improvised festive gossip verses about the problems of the year or how they’re going to cry if they don’t have a drink.
Feliz Año Nuevo!
All over Latin America, people are celebrating the New Year with food, fire, and fun. On New Year’s Eve, family dinners give way to fireworks in the streets or huge pyrotechnic demonstrations in the main public squares of cities such as Valparaiso, Chile, Guatemala City or Mexico.
Party-goers across Latin America carry on a New Year’s Eve tradition imported from Spain: eating 12 grapes, one on each countdown to midnight ring, to ensure good luck and prosperity. In some countries, wearing yellow underwear is believed to bring prosperity in the coming year, while red underwear will bring love.
In Ecuador, men dressed in drag – the “widows” of the past year – dance seductively in the streets, forcing drivers to pay a toll to get by.
And in many Latin American countries, people purge their demons from the past year, real or symbolic, by making life-size dolls or mannequins – depending on the country, some may be made with masks and papier-mâché. or by stuffing old clothes with paper – and burning them in effigy at the stroke of midnight.
READ MORE: 9 Lucky New Year’s Food Traditions
Three kings day
In much of Latin America, Three Kings Day, January 6, is the day children receive gifts, echoing how in biblical tradition the infant Jesus received from l gold, frankincense and myrrh of the three visiting wise men, also called magi.
Another import from Spain to Latin America, the holiday, also known as Epiphany, marks the time in Western Christian tradition when God revealed his physical manifestation in the form of his son, Jesus.
The children leave shoes near the door so the Three Kings will know where to stop and put hay or grass under their beds for the Magi’s camels. In the morning, presents appear under the bed or under the Christmas tree, which is still standing until at least January 7.
Celebrations and family reunions punctuate the day, as well as parades and festivals in the big cities. In Mexico, families, friends and colleagues share the Three Kings round bread, or rosca de reyes, topped with candied fruit to represent the jewels of a crown. Whoever cooks the inch-long baby Jesus doll must make tamales for the upcoming Christian holiday of Candlemas on February 2nd.
