Happened to be speaking to an old friend about Posada, an Hispanic tradition that I'd taken as something similar to traditional Christmas caroling. There's a bit more to it than that. Here's a note from my original janitorial sales manager, Bill Black, who is still a member of our corporate board. Bill's mother was old school Hispanic, and brought him up in both the Faith and the culture:
A Contemporary American Posada as a Multi Cultural Expression
Robert, further to our conversation a day ago about Umberto Eco, and the field of semiotics, I very much appreciated your blog post a couple years back titled The Adoration of the Shepherd, and so I thought to share this with you. I saw this sketch 
yesterday making its way around the internet, while it's not the traditional crèche scene, such as the Duomo with its famed terracotta Presepe, nor is it like Tintoretto's, The Adoration of the Shepherds, it does have many references to the Nativity Story as depicted in the tradition of Las Posada. Las Posada is Spanish for "The Inn", and can be described as a form of folk street theater with origins in the Italian and Spanish Christmas Pageants, and perhaps with just a dash of the troubadours' cantos. A traditional Posada will have actors, a band, and two choruses, the whole group will often number over two hundred people, and will move from house to house throughout a village, or neighborhood, to recreate the story of the Holy Family's search for shelter. The performance will be repeated for nine days.
The origins of Las Posadas date back about four hundred years, both the Augustinian missionaries from Argentina, and the Franciscan missionaries from Mexico, claim credit for starting the tradition. What is pretty certain is that both religious orders borrowed a lesson from Saint Francis of Assisi's playbook. The Italian saint and founder of the Franciscan Order is credited with creating the first creche, and both the Franciscans and Augustinians are well known for employing performance art in a popular education pedagogy to spread the Gospel. Consequently, Las Posada traditions have spread throughout the Spanish speaking, Roman Catholic, Americas, and are now finding their way into the United States. Indeed Posadas are fast becoming a tradition of many Protestant Churches as well, taking its place alongside the traditional Christmas caroling practice. With the appeal of its strong biblical reference, and family values, it is finding popular acceptance in evangelical churches. Even a few Unitarian Universalist congregations have held Posadas, leaving Jingle Bells and The Internationale to be sung by the carolers.
I have shared below the iconic details that I can spot in the attached sketch from the biblical and midrashic nativity story. I don't know the title of the sketch, so I am simply calling it "A Contemporary American Posada".
Some details are easier to see than others. I have spotted nearly thirty iconic or semiotic elements for certain, and suspect there are a few more.
It's a dark and wet scene; at first you may think that against all odds the man and woman only have each other to survive in this place, and you might feel some sorrow for them.
"Jose" (1) is dressed in workman's clothes, perhaps as a construction day laborer, perhaps as a carpenter (2), he is presumably searching (3) for a place for them stay, they both have wedding rings (4), and the back pack (5) could indicate they have been on the road. The signs are in English, and the couple is likely Hispanic, they are cast as strangers in a strange land (6). The woman is pregnant (7), and wears a sweatshirt that says Nazareth (8) High School, perhaps indicative of her young age (9), most Catholic scholars believe Mary was about 14 years old when she gave birth to Jesus. The heads of both the woman, and Jose, appear to have halos (10), with a deference paid to the woman's halo, iconography of Mary often has a halo of shooting stars (11), her halo has the word "SAVE" (12). A dove appears above the woman and her womb (13), an iconic reference that the Holy Spirit is protecting the woman and her unborn child. The woman is sitting on a small mechanical toy horse (14), most Spanish painters would show Mary arriving in Bethlehem on a donkey, the nativity donkey foreshadows that The Messiah will ride into Jerusalem on a donkey. Many Spanish speaking mothers have told their teenage children whenever they complained about the old family car, "El Cristo montó en y salió en un burro", The Christ rode in, and out, on a donkey. There is no room, "No Vacancy" (15) at Dave's City Motel (16), Bethlehem was the "City of David". The words "New" and "Man ger" (17) appear on the sign. There are several "signs" in the window, one with a star (18) above the woman, one that depicts a man riding on a camel across the desert with the word "WIESMAN" (19), and a poster says "Good News" (20) and shows a candy bar with perhaps a carmel (21) filling, it may be a reference to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and the Carmel Mountains. A sign below seems to look like a campaign poster that might read "ELECT HEROD" (22). The name ZEKE, 3415-16 (23), is written on the side of the pay phone, a reference to Ezekiel 34:15-16, "I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice". There is a sticker with the last four letters of the word "GLORIA!" (24) on the post supporting the payphone and message. Two words, "Word" and "Flesh" (25), if taken together could mean "The Word made flesh" are written in graffiti on the base of the mechanical horse, and the machine is "Out of Order", broken (26). The newspaper on the sidewalk has three adds, "Shepherd Watches" (27), and next to each other "Glad" and "Tide" for Glad Tidings (28). There is a bright small green seedling just starting to grow out of a crack in the sidewalk (29),The Shoot from the Stump of Jesse. I suspect the bottle has a meaning, however it escapes me as to what it could be. A frequent element that is missing in the sketch is the placement of Mary's feet on the head of a serpent, perhaps it is the power cord, I think it would be a stretch.
