New Castle students join Las Posadas celebration
Staff report
New castle, Pa.
Students from the New Castle Christian Academy participated at the celebration of Las Posadas at St. Brendan Catholic Church in Youngstown.
As it has every December, the Hispanic Parish of St. Brendan celebrated this Mexican tradition, which originated in Spain and is also celebrated in parts of the southwestern United States.
The Posadas re-enact Mary and Joseph’s difficult journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem in search of shelter. The word posada, in Spanish, means “lodging.”
Traditionally, a party is set each night from Dec. 16-24 in a neighborhood home.
At dusk, guests gather outside the house with children dressed as shepherds, angels, Mary and Joseph. In this case, the Posadas took place at the former Summit Academy’s gym in Youngstown.
Mary and Joseph played by Diana Rios and Efrain Ruano (both students from McGuffey Elementary School) led the procession, followed by the adults, carrying lighted candles.
NCCA Paulina Montaldo-Stader’s Spanish class seventh-graders Samantha Joki and Emily Simpson, carried candles playing and singing the part of the “pilgrims” asking for shelter.
Other group sung a reply till the moment the doors opened to the guests and offered food and drinks.
After a meal with tortillas and carne prepared by organizer Alma Cirielo, the children broke pi ±atas, one of them in the shape of the Christmas star, and later received gifts.
The celebration ended with “villancicos,” or traditional Christmas songs, along with guitar music played by Kevin Osorto from the Hispanic Ministry from St. Brendan’s Parish.