Fred investigated, and here is the result of his inquiries:
"The Mexicans have a longer Christmas than we do, as it begins on the 17th of December, and lasts until New Year's Day. During their Christmas they have an amusement called the posada, or inn; it is based upon occurrences of the time when Cæsar Augustus ordered the whole world to be taxed, and Joseph and Mary came to Judea from Galilee to be enrolled. Bethlehem was so filled with strangers that they wandered from inn to inn for nine days without finding accommodations, and then sought shelter in the stable in which Christ was born.
THE FIGURE OF JOSEPH (PROCESSION OF THE POSADA).
"In commemoration of the nine days of wandering, Mexican posadas last nine days. In many houses processions are formed, and the people of a family join in it, carrying tapers and singing litanies; figures of Joseph and Mary are carried in front of each procession, and every door that is passed on the round is knocked upon in the effort to obtain shelter. The sound of the litanies is to be heard all over the city; court-yards and windows are hung with numerous lanterns, and all the public places are richly ornamented, and abound with pleasure-seekers.
"The principal sport of the posada is breaking the pinate, an earthen jar filled with dulces. The jar is richly decorated on the outside, and ornamented with ribbons of paper. The pinates are made in the shape of all known and many unknown birds and beasts, and also in the shape of dolls, some of them being of great size. Peddlers go about the streets with these things suspended from a pole, and the number sold at Christmas-time is very large.
"When the ceremonial procession is over the party goes to the patio, or to a large room of the house, and there the fun begins. A pinate is suspended from the ceiling, or from a cord stretched across the patio, and then one of the party, blindfolded and armed with a stick, sets about breaking the pinate; sometimes half a dozen are blindfolded at once, and then the fun is lively. When the pinate is broken the dulces fall to the floor, and everybody scrambles for them. Altogether, the game reminds us of blind-man's-buff and some of our other home sports.
"A good many people omit the religious part of the posada and come at once to the jug-breaking. In wealthy families posadas often cost many hundreds or even thousands of dollars; the ladies receive handsome and valuable presents, and the broken pinates have been known to yield showers of rings and gold coins, instead of the regulation sweetmeats. The affair concludes with a grand dance, and the participants do not reach home until a very late, or early, hour.
"All through the Christmas and New-year festivities there are grand balls, dinners, theatre parties, and the like; everybody indulges in festivity according to his means, and not infrequently beyond them; and when the affair is over, and the realities of life come again, the tradesmen who seek to collect their bills make the time doubly serious. In some parts of the country the pastorela, or pastoral, takes the place of the posada; the amusements are pretty much the same, the principal difference being that another incident of the nativity is taken as the ground-work of the ceremonial.