For The Dialog
REHOBOTH BEACH – A traditional Mexican pre-Christmas celebration merged with current events at St. Edmond’s Church Dec. 12 during an adaptation of Las Posadas, the journey of Mary and Joseph as they sought a place to stay in Bethlehem.
More than 20 students in the church’s religious education program reenacted the journey during the opening procession for the Vigil Mass for the third Sunday of Advent. Along the way, they stopped at two innkeepers who said they had no room. The second suggested a place for them to stay, in a stable, and guided Mary and Joseph to the side of the altar.
Las Posadas (Spanish “posada” for inn or lodging) is a nine-day novena that begins on Dec. 16. Each evening after a brief prayer service, participants travel to various houses in a neighborhood; at several the procession is refused entry, until one homeowner invites the group inside for food and drink.
St. Edmond’s adaptation was only one evening and remained inside the church. A taco dinner followed in the church hall.
Appearing in the St. Edmond’s Las Posados in Rehoboth Dec. 12 were: Sophia Czerwinski (left), who played Mary; Delaney Zolper, who portrayed Joseph; Morgan Whittan, who carried a stuffed donkey, and innkeepers James Falk and Dru Buchler. (The Dialog/Gary Morton)
While the innkeepers and Mary and Joseph were dressed to appear as they might have for the first Christmas some 2,000 years ago, the dialogue was updated to reflect modern times and issues.
“You can’t have a baby in my inn. Go to the hospital,” the first innkeeper, portrayed by Dru Buchler, told Mary and Joseph in the adaptation. “Don’t bother us. I wish the city would do something about these homeless people.”
Earlier, he had said, “We don’t take people from Nazareth.”
Sister Maryanne Zakreski said both the Las Posadas and a penance service for religious education students the week before carried a timely message. During the penance service, which also featured interaction between Joseph and an innkeeper, the innkeeper told Joseph, “We don’t want people like you.”
The two events provided the children, as well as those at Mass on Saturday, an opportunity to review how they react to people who are different from themselves, said Sister Maryanne, a Sister of St. Joseph who heads the religious education program. Such a review is especially timely given the worldwide debate over how to handle refugees from the war in Syria and concerns over terrorism.
“It all seemed to tie in,” she said.
Las Posadas also helped children in the mostly Caucasian parish to learn more about Mexican and Hispanic culture, she said. That it fell on Dec. 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, was an added bonus. The feast day celebrates Mary’s appearance to Juan Diego, an indigenous Mexican, near modern-day Mexico City in 1531.
The Blessed Virgin appeared as a Native American. The apparition is credited as the major reason most of Mexico’s native population converted to Catholicism.
Older students in the adaptation said it helped them think again about how people reacted to Mary and Joseph. But just as importantly, they said their participation brought a sense of nostalgia.
“We did this in first grade,” said eighth-grader Sophie Czerwinski who portrayed Mary, “so it was nice to be in it again.”
- • •
Posadas, Christmas Masses in Spanish
The Hispanic communities in the diocese invite the entire community to take the Christ child in our hearts in inspiring Posada celebrations.
Wednesday, December 16: Posadas
7 PM: Holy Angels/Santos Angeles, Newark
Noche Buena/Thursday,
December 24—Masses/Misas:
6:30 p.m.—St. Dennis/San Denis, Galena, MD
7 p.m.—St. Francis de Sales/San Francisco de Sales, Salisbury, MD
7:30 p.m.—Holy Angels/Santos Angeles, Newark
7:30 p.m.—Our Lady of Lourdes/Nuestra Señora de Lourdes, Seaford
7:30 p.m.—Our Lady of Guadalupe, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, Roxanne
8 p.m.—St. Elizabeth/Santa Isabel, Westover, MD
8 p.m.—St. Mary, Refuge of Sinners/Santa Maria, Cambridge, MD
8:30 p.m.—Ss. Peter & Paul/Santos Pedro y Pablo, Easton, MD. Mass and Posada.
8:30 p.m.—St. Catherine of Siena/Santa Catalina, Wilmington
8:30 p.m.—St. Joseph/San Jose, Middletown
9 p.m.—Holy Cross/Santa Cruz, Dover
9 p.m.—Immaculate Conception/Inmaculada Concepción, Marydel, MD
7 p.m.—Our Lady of Fatima/Nuestra Señora de Fátima, New Castle
9 p.m.—St. Michael the Archangel/San Miguel Arcángel, Georgetown with Posadas at 7 p.m.
9 p.m.—St. Paul/San Pablo, Wilmington, with caroling/villancico beginning at 8 p.m.
9 p.m.—Holy Rosary/Santo Rosario, Claymont
10:30 p.m.—St. John the Apostle/San Juan Apóstol, Milford
9 p.m.—St. Michael the Archangel/San Miguel Arcángel, Georgetown, with Posadas at 7 p.m.
Navidad/Friday, December 25
10 a.m.—St. Paul/San Pablo, Wilmington: bilingual
12 p.m.—St. Michael the Archangel/San Miguel Arcángel, Georgetown
7 p.m.—St. Agnes/Santa Ines, Rising Sun, MD
Sunday, December 27
6 p.m.—St. Christopher/San Cristofer, Chester, MD: Holy Family Mass proceeded by a traditional Ecuadorian procession del Niño Viajero
- • •
For further information, contact Brother Chris Posch, ofm, at chrisposch@gmail.com or 302-655-0518.
