Analyze and explore character and plot development in Los Pastores and Las Posadas, two traditional folk traditions that take place during the Christmas season across New Mexico. Los Pastores is a musical folk drama and Las Posadas is a community procession enacted during Christmas time.

Los Pastores most likely came to the Americas with the Spanish during the 16th century as a means of teaching Christianity. Los Pastores tells the story of a group of shepherds who go in search of the Christ child and encounter obstacles along the way, including a lazy shepherd who does not want to continue the quest and a wily Lucifer who throws doubt their way. Perhaps the most well-known song from Los Pastores is “A la ru,” a lullaby that parents still sing to their children. Learn about the importance of this song in the state’s holiday traditions.

Las Posadas is part of this holiday tradition. In towns and villages across New Mexico, community members, including Joseph and Mary, walk in a procession for the nine evenings preceding Christmas. Every evening they stop at a different house, where they are turned away. On the final night everyone is welcome inside to symbolically embrace the birth of Jesus.

This resource contains teaching tips, background reading, discussion questions, and vocabulary to help contextualize student analysis. Transcriptions in this resource include an English translation of Spanish-language music.