<P> The area in and around the basilica begins to crowd with lights, fireworks and indigenous people dancing starting at dusk on December 11 and goes on all night and into the next day . This image of the Virgin Mary is honored in all of Mexico in various ways . In the city of Oaxaca, the main event is at Parque Llano on December 11, with small boys dressed as Juan Diego at the church to be blessed . In the very early morning hours of the 12th, the song Las Mañanitas is sung to the Virgin Mary . </P> <P> From December 16 to 24 there are a series of procession and parties called Las Posadas (from the word for inn), for many children the most anticipated part of the Christmas season . The tradition was begun by Spanish evangelists to teach the Christmas story to the indigenous people and ostensibly to substitute the rituals related to the birth of the god Huitzilopochtli . </P> <P> Today they are most often performed in rural areas and in the lower - class neighborhoods of cities . The first part consists of a procession . The most traditional version heads out after dark each of the nine evenings from a local church . A girl and boy are chosen to play Mary and Joseph in costume, sometimes with Mary riding a donkey . The rest of the procession carries candles, paper lanterns and / or decorated staves and often an empty manger . If no one is dressed as Mary and Joseph, the procession generally carries a nativity scene . </P> <P> Las Posadas generally serves as a way to maintain community bonds with neighborhood . In one variation, the procession arrives at a house and divides in two . One half remains outside and sings a traditional song to ask for shelter . The other sings the response from inside, and the ritual ends with everyone inside . The other variation has the procession go to three houses singing, two of which "reject" the party until the third house accepts . </P>

Three ways to say merry christmas in spanish