The Holy Family

The Holy Family, as such, is all but absent in Christian imagination and devotion for the first thousand years of the Church’s existence. In close connection to the cult of St Joseph, the Holy Family gains new prominence toward the end of the medieval period, and then grows dramatically in importance in the early modern period. Traditions in the New World such as Las Posadas are also discussed in this chapter. Especially important in Catholic thought and practice, the Holy Family has come to have central symbolic importance for all Christians in contemporary Christmas celebrations such as children’s Nativity plays and pageants.