la posada

[HAOLE BOY]

Feliz navidad a todos. The forum has been quiet the last couple weeks...looking back on Christmas, there has been a lot of vocabulary in the papers. I like the phrase 'nino Dios.' How about the reference to 'la posada.' That's more than an inn. Can someone enlighten me?
Gracias.

[Tomisimo]

Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo

Here´s some info I found on Posadas:

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posada
Una posada es un establecimiento donde los viajeros pueden encontrar comida, bebida y alojamiento. Se encuentran por Europa, y empezaron cuando los romanos construyeron su famoso sistema de carreteras hace dos milenios. Por ello, algunas posadas de Europa tienen varios siglos de antigüedad. Algunas han servido también como lugares de encuentro.

Posada basically means "inn" in Spanish, but there are also some other uses. For example in Mexico, Posadas are Christmas parties where everybody eats too much. There's also a special Christmas song where you "pedir posada". You go to someone's door, and sing the song and then they let you in and feed you. Here's the lyrics to the song http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedir_posada

Here's some more (not very good) information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Posadas

[Jessica]

It's a holiday. Las Posadas, as I read in an article

[CrOtALiTo]

Merri Christmas, as David said in his previous post, the posadas on my country are parties made for the Mexican people, I don't know what does posada mean in other countries, but you must know that the posada could be also a home where you are for a night.