The Mexican Posada Song

Christmas Singing through the Streets in
San Miguel de Allende

Y ou'll hear Pidiendo Posada, the traditional Mexican Posada Song, everywhere you go at Christmas time in San Miguel de Allende. It wafts from shop doors and open home windows, echos from school rooms where kids are practicing for the real processions in the streets. It is one of the main symbols of christmas in Mexico, as beloved, ubiquitous and instantly recognizable as "Silent Night" is North of the Border.

tamalesAs the candlelit procession with Joseph leading Mary on her donkey winds through the streets, the Pilgrims knock on the doors of various houses. They sing the first stanza of the song, and the people behind the closed door reply with the second and so on, back and forth.

The pilgrims are turned away several times before they reach the night's chosen house. Here, the householders realize who is really knocking. The final choruses are sung, the door swings wide, and the pilgrims are allowed inside.

There are prayers, piñatas for the children and hot ponche, the traditional Mexican Christmas punch, for everyone.

There are regional variations in the lyrics to the Posada Song, but here you'll find one of the most common.

In case you are not familiar with the traditional tune of the song, here is a music sound file of the Posada Song so you can hear what it sounds like.

Pidiendo Posada
Begging for Shelter

With a little practice, you'll be able to join one of the posadas as they criss-cross san Miguel de Allende, and join in singing Pidiendo Posada: the Posada Song.

Spanish
En el nombre del cielo
os pido posada
pues no puede andar
mi esposa amada.

English
In the name of Heaven
I ask of you shelter,
For my beloved wife
Can go no farther.

Aquí no es mesón,
sigan adelante
Yo no debo abrir,
no sea algún tunante.

There's no inn here,
Go on with you,
I can't open up
You might be a rogue.

Venimos rendidos
desde Nazaret.
Yo soy carpintero
de nombre José.

We're weary from traveling
from Nazareth.
I am a carpenter
by the name of Joseph.

No me importa el nombre,
déjenme dormir,
pues que yo les digo
que nos hemos de abrir.

I don't care who you are,
Let me sleep.
I already told you
we're not going to open.

Posada te pide,
amado casero,
por sólo una noche
la Reina del Cielo.

I ask you for lodging
dear man of the house.
Just for one night
for the Queen of Heaven.

Pues si es una reina
quien lo solicita,
¿cómo es que de noche
anda tan solita?

Well, if it's a queen
who's asking us for it,
why does she travel all alone
and in the night?

Mi esposa es María,
es Reina del Cielo
y madre va a ser
del Divino Verbo.

My wife is Mary
She's the Queen of Heaven
who is going to be the mother
of the Divine Word.

¿Eres ú José?
¿Tu esposa es María?
Entren, peregrinos,
no los conocía.

Are you Joseph?
Your wife is Mary?
Enter, pilgrims;
I did not recognize you.

Dios pague, señores,
vuestra caridad,
y que os colme el cielo
de felicidad.

May God repay, kind people,
your charity,
and thus heaven heap
happiness upon you.

¡Dichosa la casa
que alberga este día
a la Virgen pura.
la hermosa María!

Blessed is the house
that shelters this day
the purest Virgin,
the beautiful Mary.



Return from Posada Song to December in San Miguel
Return to Experience San Miguel Home

Share this page:
Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.
Copyright Experience San Miguel de Allende 2006-2012 Protected by international copyright conventions & checked by CopyScape Please do not copy any material on this page without written permission.

SBI
SBI!