attention to the others. The celebration lasted four hours, but there was rather a long sermon. You will shortly receive a detailed account of the whole, which is to be published in the Mexican Annual called "The Ladies' Guide."
In the evening we went to the house of the Marquesa de Vo, to spend Christmas Eve. On this night all the relations and intimate friends of each family assemble in the house of the head of the clan, a real gathering, and in the present case, to the number of fifty or sixty persons.
This is the last night of what are called the Posadas, a curious mixture of religion and amusement, but extremely pretty. The meaning is this. At the time that the decree went forth from Cæesar Augustus that "all the world should be taxed," the Virgin and Joseph having come out of Galilee to Judea to be inscribed for the taxation, found Bethlehem so full of people, who had arrived from all parts of the world, that they wandered about for nine days, without finding admittance in any house or tavern, and on the ninth day took shelter in a manger, where the Saviour was born. For eight days, this wandering of the Holy Family to the different Posadas is represented, and seems more intended for an amusement to the children, than anything serious. We went to the Marquesa's at eight o'clock, and about nine the ceremony commenced. A lighted taper was put into the hand of each lady, and a procession was formed, two by two, which marched all through the house; the corridors and walls of which were all decorated with evergreens and lamps; the
