Hello everyone!
Welcome to the Community Center! I'm @Bhu...
Latest reply
Hello everyone!
Welcome to the Community Center! I'm @Bhumika , one of the Community Managers for our English Community Ce...
Latest reply
As another year winds its way down, so our annual Holiday traditions begin! Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice or something entirely different, and regardless of where you live or plan to spend the Holidays, we all have our own way to enjoy this time of the year!
I was raised in the Northeastern United States. Growing up, my Christmas Holidays in coastal Maine were something straight out of a โCurrier and Ivesโ picture book. My parents owned and ran a Bed and Breakfast in a historic Sea Captainโs home in a quintessential New England town. Each year, our home was like a scene out of โWhite Christmasโ. Snow, presents under the Christmas tree, roaring fires in each room, stockings hung with care, skiing, Christmas carolers, family, friends, Eggnog, mistletoe, Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding, homemade cakes, pies, cookies and even Fruit Cake!
My partner Rodrigo, grew up in South America, in Cali, Colombia. His Christmas traditions were very different from a โWhite Christmasโ. No snow, no skiing, no Eggnog, no mistletoe, no Yorkshire Pudding, Fruit Cake or chimney for St. Nick! Yet, Santa Claus was able to visit everyoneโs home in Colombia on Christmas Eve by entering through a crack in the wall, and leaving presents for children next to their bed, to be found on the morning of December 25th.
In Colombia, Christmas dinner is a celebration of Tamales, Sancocho de Gallina. (Hen stew), Lechona (a pork filled roast with peas and rice) Arepas de Choclo (fried cornmeal cakes stuffed with cheese), Manjar Blanco, Flan and other Colombian sweets.
Rodrigo and I reside in Los Angeles, but in 2019 we purchased a home in Oaxaca, Mexico, which we host on Airbnb. Since becoming Hosts, we have been fortunate to block dates of our Airbnb Calendar and celebrate the end of year holidays in Mexico.
So, you may askโฆ โWhat are the Holidays like in Mexico? How do they celebrate without snow or is their Fruit Cake? Do they have Christmas trees? Does Santa Claus arrive on a sleigh?โ
While Mexico has a lot of the same traditions you may find in other parts of the world, there are additional festivities as well. Being a predominantly Catholic country, most Mexicans celebrate Christmas.
Mexican Christmas traditions incorporate parts of indigenous culture, customs from Spain, Germany, the United States and their own inventions.
In Mexico the Christmas Holidays last for nearly a month! The Holiday Season begins on December 12 with celebrations in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe (the Mother of Jesus), the patron Saint of Mexico.
Christmas or Noche Buena is typically celebrated on the night of December 24th. For many, Christmas Dinner starts just before midnight, and the meal is shared with family and friends with non-stop eating, drinking, music, dancing, and laughter that continues well into the early morning of the 25th. Itโs a big fiesta!
Mexican Christmas menus can differ depending on where you live, with lots of regional dishes, but typically you will find: Turkey, Tamales, Potato Salad, Pozole (a rich soup made with pork, hominy and chilies), Ponche (a warm cider concoction of fruit and spices), Champurrado (Mexican hot chocolate with cinnamon), Buรฑuelos (fried dough covered with cinnamon sugar), Mexican Wedding Cookies (round flaky almond flavoured cookies covered with powdered sugar), and a variety of other delicious dishes.
As you can imagine, after such a night of food and festivities, Christmas Day, December 25th in Mexico is pretty quiet. Most sleep in, spending the day eating leftovers and continuing the festivities.
At Christmas time, itโs common for Mexicans to decorate their homes with trees and depending on where you live, there are often beautiful fresh cut trees for purchase. A week or two before Christmas, lights are hung on the outside and in the windows of houses. Since the Poinsettia plant (Noche Buena) is indigenous to Mexico, they are found in abundance. Passing roadside nurseries you can take your pick from hundreds of Poinsettias in a variety of colors, red, white or pink!
Each town square or Zocalo is tastefully decorated, usually with a huge Christmas tree (often more than 30 feet tall), a life size nativity scene and twinkling lights. Families and locals gather at night over the Holidays to drink hot chocolate and listen to musicians or mariachi bands play holiday music.
Traditionally gift giving is not really a part of the Mexican Christmas celebrations. If gifts are exchanged itโs typically done on January 6th, Dรญa de Reyes, the date when the Three Kings arrived to adorn baby Jesus with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Dรญa de Reyes is known in other parts of the christian world as Epiphany. In Mexico itโs celebrated with a Rosca de Reyes, a wreath shaped cake filled with fruit and a tiny doll. The person who gets the slice with the doll must then host a meal of tamales in February! Dรญa de Reyes also marks the end of the Christmas Holidays in Mexico.
Another unique tradition of Christmas in Mexico are Las Posadas, a series of night time street processions. Spanish in origin, itโs a reenactment with songs telling the story of Mary and Josephโs journey to find accommodations before the birth of their son, Jesus. Posadas have been celebrated in Mexico for over 400 years.
Each night in Mexico from December 6th to the 24th, you can often find groups of people walking in neighborhoods, singing in front of peopleโs homes. Homeowners in turn, open their doors to offer the singers hospitality with a variety of treats including, tamales, hot chocolate, buรฑuelos or ponche. Sometimes homes will even have a piรฑata for the children to break and enjoy candies. The singers then proceed to the next neighborhood for more festivities!
When Rodrigo and I are in Mexico over the holidays, we welcome our neighbors to our home as part of the Posadas processions. Upon hearing groups singing in the streets, we too open our door, offering them mugs of steaming Oaxacan Hot Chocolate. This tradition always leaves us with a wonderful feeling of connection to our neighbors, our home, the community of Oaxaca and Mexico.
Itโs the Mexican tradition of Las Posadas that reminds us what Airbnb Hosting and the Airbnb Community is really all about.
Sure, with Hosting there is the business side of things, the details of reservations, checking guests in and out, ensuring a pleasant stay, and prepping your property for the next guests.
With all of that aside, to us, Hosting is really about that connection that you make with others from around the globe when welcoming them to your home by offering hospitality.
This connection has enriched our lives by having an exchange of life experiences, new ideas and perspectives. You never know what you will learn about a guestโs world as they stay in your world!
Hosting also provides us with a shared experience of genuine human connection, which can be hard to find in a world that often can feel very disconnected and polarized. By Hosting you truly feel connected to a global community!
So, wherever you may celebrate or what traditions you enjoy each year, may the warm spirit of the hospitality of Mexican Posadas stay with you and on your journey as Airbnb Hosts.
As 2023 comes to an end, and we look to 2024, Rodrigo and I pass all of you a virtual mug of Mexican Hot Chocolate, and some warm buรฑuelos!
Wishing all of you all the best for this holiday season wherever or however you may celebrate!
Merry Christmas, ยกFeliz Navidad! Happy Holidays!
John and Rodrigo
Los Angeles โ Oaxaca, Mexico
