Monday, December 24, 2007
Christmastime
in Mexico
By Allan
Wall
It’s that time of year again – Christmas
in Mexico.
The worldwide diversity of Christmas in its various
cultural forms is an interesting study. The essence of the holiday – a
celebration of the incarnation and birth of Jesus Christ – is the same throughout Christendom. The holiday has a real power to inspire art, literature and folk customs, and express itself in various
manners in diverse cultures.
Real celebrations come from the people, and are not
imposed by governments to promote an agenda. In Mexico, Christmas is a true folk
celebration. Mexican Christmas customs are an eclectic mixture of the old and
the new, including elements from Europe, elements developed in Mexico, and, in recent years, elements borrowed from the U.S.A.
One prominent aspect of the Mexican Christmas
season is the widespread use of the nacimiento – the crèche or Nativity scene. It is often more elaborate than those used in the United States. Its ceramic figurines include interesting elements such as the nopal
cactus, hermits and ducks (I’ve even seen ducks with halos!). My Mexican
wife has fond memories of the nacimiento which belonged to her late grandmother.
In northern Mexico, the customary gift-giving
occasion is the night of December 24th. Traditionally, in southern
Mexico the principal gift-giving date is January 6th, Epiphany, or more commonly the Day of the Magi Kings, commemorating
the presentation of the gifts by the Three Wise Men to the Baby Jesus
The piñata is probably the most famous Mexican Christmas
custom, although it is not exclusively a Christmas custom. In fact, the piñata is used throughout the year at children’s
birthday parties, suspended in midair and struck repeatedly until it breaks.
In the U.S., the most famous piñata is in the form
of a donkey, but nowadays a piñata might be in any form. For example, you might see a Bart Simpson piñata or a Spiderman piñata.
The piñata
used at Christmastime though is a ball with spikes. In colonial times a piñata
in the form of a big ball (representing Satan) with seven spikes (representing the seven capital sins) was used by the friars
as a teaching device. Thus, breaking the piñata represented defeating Satan.
Another Christmas custom is the posada, which superficially bears some resemblance to the Christmas caroling celebrated in English-speaking countries.
However, the singing in the posada is a ritualized musical drama. The people outside
sing the part of Mary and Joseph, the people inside sing the part of the innkeeper, and finally those outside are invited
inside for the party.
The Mexican pastorela
is a genre of Christmas play. Its roots go back to the mystery and morality plays of medieval Spain. The pastorela focuses on the shepherds, pastor being the Spanish word for
shepherd. In the pastorela, the shepherds
hear from the angel about the Christ Child, and they set out for Bethlehem
to see Him. Along the way they encounter the Devil, who puts various temptations
in their path to prevent their arrival at the manger. Each shepherd is tempted by a particular sin. But they resist the temptations and, at the end of the play, they reach the Christ Child.
In more recent years, gringo customs such as Santa
Claus and Christmas trees have been adopted in Mexico. Actually they have been
assimilated quite well into the culture.
During the season stores do a brisk business in Christmas
trees. I recall one December in Mexico City, seeing a gigantic artificial Christmas
tree in the Zocalo (the main Mexico City plaza).
Santa Claus is well-known in Mexico now, and many
small children eagerly await his annual visit.
One curious result of the adoption of Christmas
customs from the U.S. is seeing snow-related decorations in regions of Mexico where it hardly ever snows.
Just as in the United States (and maybe everywhere
it’s celebrated), Christmas is quite commercialized in Mexico. But maybe
that’s inevitable, because the main reason it’s commercialized is the holiday is important to people.
As long as you remember the real reason for Christmas,
and as long as you don’t go into debt buying presents, that can be a very good thing.
It’s certainly good for the commercial economy. In fact, a lot of
stores do a big share of their business during the season.
In conclusion, allow me to wish all the readers of
Mexidata.info a hearty Merry Christmas, or as they say here in Mexico – ¡Feliz Navidad!
——————————
Allan Wall, a MexiData.info columnist, recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq.
He currently resides in Mexico, where he has lived since 1991. He can be reached via e-mail
at allan39@prodigy.net.mx.
