Overview
- Celebrations across the region on December 7 signal the start of Advent and the Christmas season.
- Families light candles and lanterns at home and in public spaces, with some communities holding processions to churches.
- A widely shared abundance rite places a yellow or green candle on coins, rice or lentils to symbolize prosperity.
- Other popular practices include writing wishes to burn with a white candle, taking herb baths of rue, rosemary or bay, and arranging small altars with flowers and fruits.
- The tradition is strongest in Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico, extends to Venezuela, Panama, Peru and Guatemala, and appears in Argentina with gatherings at the Buenos Aires Obelisco at 8 p.m. and on La Plata’s cathedral steps at 5 p.m.