Hundreds of Quad Citians gathered in Rock Island, combining cultures and celebrating the holidays.
The annual Posada Navideña was held at the Rock Island Botanical Center on Sunday, December 15, 2013. Organizers expected anywhere from 300 to 400 people to join for the 6th year of the celebration.
A Posada is a traditional celebration meant to commemorate the events leading up to Christmas. President of the Hola America Media Group, Tarsicio Macias said at the event the crowd enjoys food, sings, dances, and celebrates the holiday.
“The purpose of the Posada is just to show a little bit of the Mexican-American culture to the community,” Macias said.
Macias added that it’s important to keep the celebration alive to pass the traditions on to future generations and so they will be aware of what their grandparents and ancestors did to celebrate.
“A lot of the new generations keep forgetting some of the traditions, not because they want to but maybe in their families they don’t celebrate it,” he said.
At the event was a giant frog walking around to entertain the children. His name is Jumping George and Macias said he was a big hit, maybe even more popular than Santa Claus.