Nine nights before Christmas: Las Posadas and Simbang Gabi

When: December 16 to 24

In Mexico and other Latin American countries, families act out Mary and Joseph's search for a place to stay, over nine nights, in Las Posadas. In the Philippines, people go to nine early-morning Masses called Simbang Gabi. Both prepare for Christmas with song, food and community.

Where it came from

Both traditions come from the Spanish-speaking Catholic world and are nine days of getting ready for Christmas, one for each month of the pregnancy of Mary. A custom of nine days of prayer and Masses before Christmas is also known from Spain.

In Mexico, tradition traces Las Posadas to missionary friars in the 1500s, who used a nine-night procession to teach the Christmas story. The Spanish word posada means an inn or lodging. In the Philippines, the dawn Masses developed during the Spanish period, in part so that farmers could attend before they went to work in the fields.

How it is kept around the world

• Las Posadas, Mexico and Central America. Each night, neighbours walk through the streets carrying candles and figures of Mary and Joseph. They sing at a door and ask for lodging. The “innkeepers” inside sing back that there is no room, until on the last night they let the pilgrims in. Then there is a party with hot punch, tamales and a star-shaped piñata.
• Simbang Gabi, Philippines. From December 16 to 24, people go to Mass before dawn. Afterwards, they buy rice cakes such as bibingka and puto bumbong from stalls outside church. Many people try to complete all nine Masses and make a wish for the Christmas season.
• The parol. The star-shaped lantern called a parol hangs in Filipino windows and streets. In San Fernando, Pampanga, makers build giant lantern festivals.
• Venezuela and Colombia. In Venezuela, there are dawn Masses from December 16, and in Caracas some people roller-skate to them. In Colombia, families pray the Novena de Aguinaldos for nine nights. On December 7, the Day of the Little Candles, families light candles in the street.
• Filipinos and Latinos abroad. Churches in many countries hold nine nights of posadas or dawn Masses, so that communities far from home can keep the tradition.

Christians differ

Posadas and Simbang Gabi are Catholic customs, and they belong to Catholic prayer life. Many Protestant Hispanic and Filipino churches hold their own Advent and Christmas gatherings, sometimes with carols and a shared meal, and some join community posadas as a cultural event. Whatever the tradition, the story at the heart is the same: a family looking for a place for a child to be born.

Do it together

Ages 0 to 2

• Walk slowly through the house with a soft toy “Mary” and “Joseph” and knock on a door.
• Sing a quiet song at each door.

Ages 3 to 5

• Make a paper star lantern and hang it in a window.
• Act out the story with toys: a family knocks, and finally someone says, “Come in!”

Ages 6 to 8

• Plan a family posada: neighbours or relatives, a song, and a star-shaped treat.
• Make a parol from bamboo sticks or straws and coloured paper.

Ages 9 to 12

• Find Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Venezuela and the Philippines on a map, and read about their Christmas customs.
• Read Luke 2:1–7 and talk about what it means to have no room.

Ages 13 to 17

• Notice who in your community has no “room”: someone new, someone lonely, someone displaced. What could you offer?
• Interview a Filipino or Latino relative or friend about their dawn Masses or posadas.

A short prayer

Lord Jesus, you were born where there was no room. Open our hearts and our homes to people who need a welcome. Amen.

Mark as done

Where this comes from

• Doreen G. Fernandez, Palayok: Philippine Food through Time, on Site, in the Pot (Bookmark, 1994), on Christmas foods such as bibingka and puto bumbong
• Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, materials on Simbang Gabi and the Misa de Aguinaldo
• F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone, eds., The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2005), entry “Advent”
• Secretaría de Cultura (Mexico), Sistema de Información Cultural, material on Las Posadas

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.