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Step 1
Honor the religious tradition of the holiday by going to a Misa de Aguinaldo, which is a Catholic mass, in which well-known Christmas carols are sung in Spanish. The service primarily consists of music. You can find this at any church in Puerto Rico from mid-December until Christmas Eve. This special Mass begins at dawn.
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Step 2
Decorate your home by putting up nacimientos, which are cribs that have wooden, porcelain or plastic figures of the Holy Family, the shepherds, the animals, the Wise Men and other people or things associated with the birth of Jesus.
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Step 3
Have an enjoyable meal with your family during Nochebuena, which is on Christmas Eve. This is the time when Puerto Ricans sit down to a traditional Christmas dinner of roast pig, pasteles (Plantain-leaf-wrapped croquettes), beans and rice and tembleque (coconut pudding). They also drink apple cider or coquito, which is a nog with white rum and coconut. After the meal, you can attend a midnight Mass together.
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Step 4
Participate in a Parrandas. This involves accompanying carolers, who go from house-to-house in their community, singing in front of each neighbor's home. In turn, carolers are allowed to come in for awhile and celebrate.
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Step 5
Celebrate Navidad, or Christmas Day, with family and friends on December 25th. The birth of Jesus Christ is remembered and gifts from Santa Claus are given out to children.
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Step 6
Travel to Hatillo, a small Puerto Rican town that celebrates the religious feast day of Dia de los Inocentes, which marks the time King Herod ordered his soldiers to kill the first-born son of all Jewish families, in hopes of killing the unknown Messiah. Hatillo holds a parade and launches a festive carnival in the town square on December 28.
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Step 7
Go to San Juan to celebrate Three Kings Day, which occurs near the close of the Christmas holiday on January 6. On the night before this, Puerto Rican youngsters leave water and a shoebox filled with grass underneath their beds to provide food and drink for the camels of the Wise Men. When the day actually arrives, it is marked with many enjoyable activities and children get special gifts, if they visit the governor's mansion.
