El 107 Magazine Volume 1.1 | December 2017 | Page 8

8
POSA
GASTAR
By: Mónica Turner, Gabriel Ruiz, and Joaquín Derby
$1,355,851 pESOS: the amount of money
students from 9th-12th grade will
spend on their posadas this year.
The posada is a traditional part of
Mexican culture in which friends and
family come together to celebrate the joys
of Christmas. In San Pedro however, these
gatherings are less about spreading
holiday cheer, and more about spending
thousands of pesos on creating an
expensive, extravagant night, all the while
promoting rivalry between some groups.
The “old-fashioned” posada,
where people come together to eat
churros and drink hot chocolate, has
become a custom in which Sampetrinos
empty their wallets to have a legendary
borrachera. Posadas bring together loved
ones to celebrate the arrival of Jesus.
Singing “En el nombre del cielo” while
holding candles and figures of Mary and
Joseph, swinging at piñatas, eating
tamales, and opening presents make up
this tradition that, through the years, has
been losing its original purpose in today’s
youth.
Contrary to the religious
elements that used to define these
get-togethers, now “alcohol,” “dates,”
“hoodies,” and “spending” is what
students Alonso Bringas, Juan Diego
Gonzalez, and Roberta Saldaña first
thought of when these parties were
mentioned. Planning for these events
starts as early as October, the creation of a
catchy slogan, and the infamous spread-
sheets where potential dates are “aparta-
dos”. But above all, it requires paying large
sums of money.
From the approximate $1.4
million peso overall budget, $609,081 will
be used by boys, and $593,070 by girls, the
rest amounting from generational posa-
das. The general trend also demonstrates
that the younger the student is, the more
he or she will spend. 12th grade David
Heckmuller explained that “the parties
have gotten bigger while our budget has
become smaller because through the
years we have been able to spend ‘intelli-
gently.’ We have stopped spending money
on expensive things, found cheaper
contacts, and through trial and error have
stopped buying things we find unneces-
sary.” Still, a fair percentage of the posa-
das’ money is invested on needless items
like hoodies or thermoses, but also on
more eccentric additions such as extrava-
gant drinks, ice sculptures, or farm
animals.
From the average of 600,000
pesos that boys and girls each spend on
their posadas, $165,000 and $103,894 are
spent on alcohol respectively. When put
together, this amounts to $295,894 pesos,
or 19 percent of the entire cost. The
individual spending of each posada on
liquor varies from groups that choose not
to provide drinks, to others who are
willing to spend up to $30,000 on beverag-
es alone, and also on the amount of
people who will attend.
It is important to note that these
numbers only include posadas that are
made up of students from other schools as
well as ASFM students nevertheless, this
phenomenon occurs in schools across
San Pedro. Nevertheless the costs still
range from 16,000 to 100,000 pesos per
event.
In the words of 11th grader
Balbina Cantú: “It is a lot of money, but I
can’t say I’m surprised. We are spoiled
teenagers, fresas, that don’t have anything
better to do with our money or time.”
But this is not the case with every
group, and these parties are something
most people look forward to every year,
but we need to question the motives
behind the event itself. Have we lost the
capacity to enjoy ourselves without the
need to spend an excessive amount of
money?