Las Posadas is a ceremony that goes back more than 400 years in Mexico and over a thousand years in Europe. In Tucson, its history is nowhere near that old, but it might not exist at all if it wasn’t for a very dedicated woman, Marguerite Collier.
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1964 Jack Sheaffer photo
Marguerite Collier walked with the Las Posadas procession.
Beginning in 1930, Collier was a music teacher at the then brand-new Carrillo School. She had a love for music and began studying the songs, dances and traditions of Mexico. She feared the cultural heritage of most of her students was disappearing, so she organized a Mexican Folklore Club. Theclub was open to any student at the school.
The group’s performances were mostly for family. Collier later reflected on those audiences in the early years saying “I’d look at those faces to see what their reaction was, especially the grandmothers. They were so surprised to know that their children or grandchildren were being taught about Mexico.”
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1972 Jack Sheaffer photo
Las Posadas
By the late 1930s, the school held its first posada, a procession that retraces the steps of Mary and Joseph, as the go from inn to inn, seeking shelter for the birth of the Christ child. Their first angel wings were made of paper, although the costumes would soon become a community endeavor.
Marguerite Collier died in 1976 at the age of 83. She attended her last pageant in 1974. Over fifty years after it began, her Las Posadas continues and it is still a beloved community endeavor.
