{"id":2520,"date":"2016-12-20T23:22:53","date_gmt":"2016-12-21T04:22:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=2520"},"modified":"2017-11-26T21:43:49","modified_gmt":"2017-11-27T02:43:49","slug":"las-posadas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2016\/12\/20\/las-posadas\/","title":{"rendered":"Las Posadas, the Latin American Christmas celebration performed ‘in solidarity with all immigrants’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cLike Mary and Joseph, we are not the first immigrants. And like Mary and Joseph, we are also immigrating for the safety and health of our families,\u201d Yessenia Alfaro, director of organizing for the Chelsea Collaborative, told the group gathered outside the environmental, social and economic justice organization\u2019s office in Chelsea tonight.<\/p>\n

They\u2019d just begun \u201cLas Posadas,\u201d a reenactment of the Christian story of the birth of Jesus, the story behind the Christmas holiday. \u201cLas Posadas is a beloved Latin American tradition that recreates Mary and Joseph\u2019s perilous journey, running from danger and seeking shelter,\u201d organizers wrote on facebook<\/a>. \u201cAs we walk and sing together in solidarity with all immigrants and refugees, we will raise awareness and celebrate the strength of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bible says Jesus\u2019s parents Mary and Joseph were turned away from a guest room (or an inn) while traveling, so his pregnant mother ended up delivering the baby in a cave\/barn. In this dramatization, the group, led by a woman and man costumed as Mary and Joseph, stopped at the Chelsea Police Department and Chelsea City Hall, but were turned away.<\/p>\n

The group banged drums and sang carols as it walked: \u201cEn el nombre del cielo \/ os pido posada, \/ pues no puede andar \/ mi exposa amada \/\/ Aqui no es meson \/ sigan adelante, \/ pues no puedo abrir, \/ no sea algun turante.\u201d (\u201cIn the name of heaven \/ I ask you for shelter, \/ for my beloved wife \/ can go no farther. \/\/ This is not an inn \/ Keep walking, \/ I cannot open the door \/ you might be a thief.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\"People<\/a>
People dressed as the Biblical Mary and Joseph lead a procession of \u201cLas Posadas” carolers in Chelsea, Dec. 20, 2016. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The group finally arrived back at Chelsea Collaborative, where about 60 people gathered in a function room. Everyone stood in a circle and held hands while some made speeches.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be my wish\u2014for Obama to pardon the 11 million undocumented people that are living in our communities,\u201d Chelsea Collaborative Executive Director Gladys Vega said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes!\u201d the crowd of some 60 people answered.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our church we believe in justice, equality and compassion for everybody,\u201d said Ellen Blaney of First Parish in Brookline, Unitarian Universalist, which has collaborated with the collaborative on two previous Las Posadas processions in Brookline. \u201cThose would just be words if we did not take action together. We\u2019re here in solidarity \u2026 and love with Chelsea Collaborative and all the families of Chelsea.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Jesus Christ was born in a manger,\u201d one woman said, \u201cour heart has to be something similar so we can gather all the love we have for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter Jan. 20, we must remain this way,\u201d Vega said. \u201cWe must remain in unity and solidarity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an immigrant myself, we have a big duty and responsibility to make our brothers and sisters know that they\u2019re not alone, that they have rights,\u201d Alfaro said. \u201cA lot of people who were going to come today, they did not come because they\u2019re still afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photos copyright 2016 Greg Cook.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\u201cLas<\/a>
\u201cLas Posadas” procession in Chelsea, Dec. 20, 2016. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cLike Mary and Joseph, we are not the first immigrants. And like Mary and Joseph, we are also immigrating for the safety and health of our families,\u201d Yessenia Alfaro, director of organizing for the Chelsea Collaborative, told the group gathered outside the environmental, social and economic justice organization\u2019s office in Chelsea tonight. They\u2019d just begun […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[111,108,102,119],"tags":[70,39,14],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2520"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2520"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4028,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2520\/revisions\/4028"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}