Christmas decoration bells. A bow is usually used at the top or bottom, and an electric or unlit candle may be placed in the middle. Christmas lights are often used, and they may be hung from door or windows, and sometimes walls, lampposts and light fixtures, or even statuary. Since the 19th century, the poinsettia, a native plant from Mexico, has been associated with Christmas. In North and South America, Australia, and Europe, it is traditional to decorate the outside of houses with lights and sometimes with illuminated sleighs, snowmen, and other Christmas figures. Municipalities often sponsor decorations as well. Christmas banners
Christmas in Mexico received a small gift called an aguinaldo, usually a package with cookies, dried and fresh fruit and candy. Then carols called villancicos are sung. A very old tradition has the song sung to the nativity scene to the newborn Child Jesus. The last posada is early Christmas Eve. What follows is a late night Mass called the Mass of the Rooster. It originated about six years after the arrival of the Spanish, when Father Pedro de Gante began a celebration of Christmas with a late night Mass. The name comes from the tradition that the birth of Christ was announced