While most Nativity sets in the Marian Library’s collection depict visitors arriving at the scene of Jesus’ birth, others connect with a crucial prior event: Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem and search for shelter.
According to the Gospel of Luke, Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem from Nazareth during Mary’s pregnancy in order to be enrolled in a census in Joseph’s ancestral home. The census had been ordered by the Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus for taxation purposes. Bethlehem was crowded because of the census so there was no room for Mary and Joseph in an inn.
A Spanish tradition, now popular in Central, South and North America, Las Posadas (Spanish for “the inns”) is a reenactment of Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter in Bethlehem. The reenactment happens over the course of nine days before Christmas, beginning each year on Dec. 16.
Las Posadas in Song
Each night, participants acting as peregrinos (pilgrims) go door to door with actors playing Mary and Joseph, asking the posaderos (innkeepers) for a place to stay. “La canción para pedir posada” (“The Song to Ask for Lodging”) is a call-and-response between the two groups. After begging for shelter through song, Mary, Joseph and the peregrinos are turned away until they reach the final stop, a celebration with music, food, sweets and a piñata.
Las Posadas in Art
Artistic representations of Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter in Bethlehem depict the same scene that is reenacted in Las Posadas. Everett Patterson’s print “José y Maria” imagines this part of the Christmas story in modern life. Pregnant Mary wears a Nazareth High School hoodie across the parking lot from the completely booked motel. Other references to Scripture hide in plain sight, begging the viewer to spend more time with this couple who could be so easily overlooked in any city today. View the entire digital piece and learn more about the symbolism on Patterson’s website.
Christmas scenes circle a ceramic vessel by the Mexican artist Angel Ortiz Gabriel: the journey to Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus Christ, a group of angels with swords fighting a serpent and the journey of the Magi. Sometimes Mary is depicted as riding on a donkey during the journey to Bethlehem, but in this painted scene the donkey walks beside Mary and Joseph.
This journey is depicted in artwork throughout the world. An Austrian Nativity set by Horst Störinger has Mary and Joseph being turned away by an innkeeper after asking for shelter. Again Mary and Joseph proceed on foot, like many of the peregrinos who reenact the scene.
These artworks and more are currently on exhibit in Joy to the World!, the Marian Library’s 30th annual Christmas exhibit.
— Bridget Retzloff is an assistant professor and visual resources librarian in the Marian Library.