Las Posadas

This article first appeared on the Borough Market website as part of a 3 part series I am writing exploring lesser-known religious traditions in December from around the world. 

En el nombre del cielo (In the name of heaven)
os pido posada (I ask you for lodgings)
Pues no puede andar (For she can’t walk further)
mi esposa amada (my beloved wife)

So begins the call and response song between the procession of peregrinos (pilgrims) and posaderos (innkeepers) re-enacting Joseph and Mary’s journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem looking for a safe place for Mary to rest and give birth.  

Las Posadas, a festival celebrated between 16^th and 24^th December in Latino countries, commemorates this journey. It is particularly important in Mexico, where it has been celebrated for over 400 years. The 9 nights of the festival are most commonly said to represent the 9 months that Jesus was in Mary’s womb, though some say they represent a 9-night journey.

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St Lucia's Day

This article is part of a 3 part series currently featuring on the Borough Market website which focuses on a few religious festivals celebrated in December, other than Christmas, and the foods associated with them. I interviewed trader Erica Fransson, who grew up in the South-East of Sweden near Kalmar, to get some local insight on the festivities.

Food is the most basic human necessity; we depend on it for our survival. Food can also build and sustain communities and identity. When we cook, taste and eat food together we create shared memories and powerful social bonds. It is hardly surprising then that food is so often used in religion as a symbol not only of the divine, but of life itself.

On St Lucia’s Day (13^th December) in Sweden, food is one of a number of material symbols used to tell the story of  Lucia, a young Christian girl who was martyred in 304. “Sankta Lucia used to go in the catacombs in Italy and give food to Christians who were hiding there,” Erica Fransson, trader at New Forest Cider, tells me. The story goes that she used to wear a wreath or crown on her head with candles to light her way and to free her hands to carry the food. 

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