Corazón Healdsburg has plans for the holiday season.
For Christmas, the nonprofit is planning to hold neighborhood posadas. Glaydon De Freitas, CEO of Corazón, said different neighborhoods in the community do the traditional Mexican and Catholic posadas. The Novena is a devotion, consisting of a prayer said over nine successive days from Dec. 16 to Dec. 24 Corazón will start the traditional nine days until Christmas Eve.
“Each apartment complex or neighborhood, predominantly Latino, will have their posada — they’re going to do their gathering among themselves but also offering posadas or offering shelter for other communities or other neighborhoods,” De Freitas said.
“We will be announcing the days of each posada in each neighborhood; that they’re going to be open for us to go there and share the community with them. The posadas are going to be animated with music and a lot of food to share that will be provided by the community. It is a community-led event,” he said.
Posadas have been around since Spaniards first arrived to Mexico. They were created to commemorate the Virgin Mary’s and St. Joseph’s search for a place to stay where Jesus could be born, observed by some Christians.
Posada essentially means inn or lodging. Over the years, it became a tradition where close-knit families and neighborhoods would partake in celebration. This almost always includes tamales, breaking of piñatas, drinking punch and singing.
The organization is also planning to have a bilingual singalong with a tentative date for Dec. 14.
“We just need confirmation from the city, but Dec. 14 at 6 p.m. we will have the community singing Christmas carols — traditional and traditional Latin American Christmas songs in Spanish and in English. We also have on the 14th, after the sing along, a family holiday party with a gift exchange, it’s going to be pretty much a secret Santa that will involve the whole community or whoever wants to participate,” De Freitas said.
To participate in the secret Santa, Corazón will post the subscription sign-up sheet on its website.
“You’re going to be able to meet another member of the community that you probably haven’t met yet. You’re going to be able to share whatever you want to share with this community member and we hope that this opportunity gives people the chance to create long term relationships,” De Freitas said.
The posadas will be held in nine predominantly Latino neighborhoods in Healdsburg.
“We have done some kind of a posada before distributing some gifts and all those things. But not this year. The new thing is the community is leading the party instead of Corazón leading the party, we’re supporting the community but the community is doing everything. It’s just honoring what’s already happening in the community and transforming that as a part of the official calendar of the city,” he said.
