I remember once one of my mutuals said she would like to know more about these christmas mexican tradition, so here you go:
In times after the conquest, the catholic missionaries started to arrive to the american continent. To get close to the native people, the missionares used creative ways for their preaching.
In Christmas season, the missionaries performed a special play called “Pastorelas” (Sheperdies?) in which was told the story of Christmas, often with a moral message in it. It’s also told a story that teaches about Good vs Evil, virtue vs vice. It’s usually represented with a mexican envirorment and it has a humoristic accent.
Some versions makes a little summary about the story of salvation and starts with the Annuciation to the Virgin Mary, the Visitation of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth, the road to Bethlehem and Jesus birth. Then the story focuses since the announcement of the angels to the sheperds about the newborn saviour. The sheperds get excited with the good news and they part way to Bethlehem. But the devil, that is angry about that event, decides to spoil the sheperds’ journey, to avoid them to reach their destiny, setting up traps to them, that aren’t nothing more than temptations based on the seven deadly sins. In some versions the devil has seven assistants, each one in charge of one of the seven sins.
Often the sheperds can be seven too, and each of them has a weakness to one deadly sin. So they are attacked by that one weakness. The lazy one follows the suggestion and is tempted by lazyness, and decides to rest in the road, falling asleep at the end; the envious one starts arguing with the greedy one or the selfish one, the gluton one gets distracted by food, and so on.
There’s usually a virtous shepherd, enthusiastic and innocent that tries to give advice to the others, to encourage them to keep continue, to warn them or to keep the peace.
There’s also the angels that help the shepherds to beat the temptations. Sometimes there’s an epic fight between Saint Michael the Archangel and captain of the celestial milicy against the devil, who is defeated at the end.
The shepherds finally pay attention to the virtous one and they apologize each other. They reach finally the barn where are the Holy Family and the shepherds adore and give gifts to the newborn Child Jesus.
The story can vary with every representation.
So, @lasaraleen, that’s why The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader remembered me of these plays.
