the posada last night was really fun. it was the school's first, and all of the staff was invited, including the people who do the security, the maintenance, the cleaning, and the cooking at the school. everybody brought their spouses and kids, and there were about a million pinatas for the kids to break. there was a raffle where prizes ranged from humongous tins of cookies to a colour tv. there was pozole--a mexican staple at large gatherings--which is a tasty sort-of soup/stew. there was a lot of spirited dancing (it turns out one of our maintenance staff is a talented dj!), and i think the only thing stranger than watching teachers and administrators get drunk is seeing them dancing.
from what i could gather, the tradition of posadas is that people are supposed to go from house to house singing a song, asking to be let in. it's supposed to mirror how mary and joseph went searching for a place to stay on the eve of christ's birth. a preappointed house (i think it's usually the third one--the first two are supposed to deny entry) finally accepts the people, and then they party. we kind of did our own adaptation of this last night; half of us stood outside the school gate and the other half were on the inside, and we all held candles and sang the song (or tried to--it was, of course, in spanish--and the tune was kinda hard to grasp), which was kind of a back-and-forth thing until the final verse, where everyone sang in unison, and those of us on the outside were permitted entry through the gate. i sure hadn't done anything like that before.

and who would've guessed (just attribute it to the unpredictability of mexico) that i would be marching in a parade by the end of the night?!
to explain: the first 12 days of december are called the fiestas de guadalupe, and they're spent celebrating the virgin of guadalupe, who is the patron saint of mexico. coincidentally enough, december 12 is not only guadalupe day, it's also vallarta's birthday, so it's very hectic around here at this time of year. during these 12 days, all of the businesses and associations in vallarta make a procession downtown towards the iglesia de guadalupe, where a small mass is held for each group. the bigger businesses and associations have processions that resemble parades, because they hire folkloric dancers and mariachi bands, and some even have floats.
our school librarian's husband owns two fine-dining restaurants in town, so his restos did their procession last night. kim, lisa and i got to join in b/c the librarian invited us while we were at the posada. it was nutso--we got to hold candles and balloons, and we walked alongside the rest of the restaurants' staff while folkloric dancers wearing getups that resembled caribana costumes marched ahead of us. a sort-of marching band played behind us, and every so often we'd stop walking and the dancers would do their thing. they must've done their dance around five our six times, and it took about an hour to get to the church from old town.

it was a night of experiencing mexican traditions, and although at times they seemed pretty bizarre to me (as i'm sure some of mine might seem that way to mexicans), it was kinda cool to be a part of them.