Las Posadas – A song about Mary and Joseph asking for Lodging at an Inn

Las Posadas is celebrated in Mexico from December 16th until Christmas. Las Posadas literally means “the inns”. The Christian festival is based around a reenactment of Mary and Joseph trying to find lodging at numerous inns and being turned away.

People sing the song Villancico para pedir posada (Searching for an Inn Carol). In the song Joseph and Mary are requesting lodging at an inn. Here, you can hear part of the song in a YouTube video. The lyrics that are sung are shown below in Spanish, and with an English translation.

Las Posadas

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

Mi esposa es María
La Reina del cielo
Os pido posadas
Por esta noche.

English Translation

In the name of heaven
I request lodging from you,
Because she cannot walk,
My beloved wife.

My wife is Mary
Queen of Heaven
We ask for lodging
For tonight.

You can learn more about Las Posadas in my earlier post and read the entire song.

Many thanks to Monique Palomares of Mama Lisa’s World en español for helping with the lyrics.

Coming soon: The Sheet Music for Las Posadas!

This article was posted on Saturday, December 22nd, 2007 at 10:40 pm and is filed under Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, Holiday Songs, Holidays Around the World, Languages, Las Posadas, Las Posadas, Las Posadas Songs, Mama Lisa, Mexican Children's Songs, Mexico, Spanish, Video, Villancicos para pedir posadas - Carols about Requestin, YouTube. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

8 Responses to “Las Posadas – A song about Mary and Joseph asking for Lodging at an Inn”

  1. Angélica Miranda Says:

    PEREGRINOS:
    En el nombre del cielo
    Os pido posada
    pues no puede andar
    mi esposa amada.

    CASERO:
    Aqui no es mesón
    sigan adelante
    pues no puedo abrir
    no sea algun tunante.

    PEREGRINOS:
    No seas inhumano,
    tennos caridad,
    que el Dios de los cielos
    te lo premiara.

    CASERO:
    Ya se pueden ir
    y no molestar
    Porque si me enfado
    los voy a apalear.

    PEREGRINOS:
    Posada te pide
    amado casero
    por solo una noche
    la reina del cielo.

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

    PEREGRINOS:
    Mi esposa es María
    es reina del cielo
    y madre va a ser
    del divino verbo.

    CASERO:
    Eres tu José
    Tu esposa es María
    Entren peregrinos
    No los conocía.

    ENTREN SANTOS PEREGRINOS,
    PEREGRINOS, RECIBAN ESTE RINCON
    Y AUNQUE ES POBRE LA MORADA,
    LA MORADA, SE LOS DOY DE CORAZON.

  2. Peg Ehlbeck Says:

    We are combining the public and Catholic school in a Lantern Festival about Giving – in town. We are putting on a small Las Posadas skit with high school and middle school students. Many of the young students are Hispanic. Do you have a simple skit we coud use to inform viewers about the Las Posadas Festival?

  3. Maggie Abernathy Says:

    I loved the video of Las Posadas. Is there any inforamation on who to contact in order to get the piano sheet music used for this video so we can do one at our church?

    Thanks!

  4. Toby Tipton Says:

    I would like an english translation of the Las Posada they celebrate in Jalisco Mexico. My grandson-in-law is from Jalisco and his family recite the rosery and sing this song that I can’t understand it says things like orro nino etc. They also take baby Jesus and rock him before they put him in the manger. Could you please send me a translation of this celebration???

  5. Lisa Says:

    Do you have the original lyrics Toby?

  6. Alma Says:

    Great stuff! Is there a video of bilingual posadas?

  7. Roger Kendle Says:

    Is the sheet music for Las Posadas available? We have many Spanish speaking members of our congregation and we want to sing this carol as a choral item in Church in our Christmas service.

    Many Thanks

    Roger.

  8. Lisa Says:

    You can find a free score for Las Posadas here and here.

    There are also some you can buy if you search on Google.

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