Parranda

A Christmas custom

In English the word can mean a party or a spree, but in Puerto Rico it names a musical tradition of the Christmas season. Groups visit their own friends and relatives, house by house, with instruments and voices. The shape of the evening is often compared to Christmas carolling in other countries, and the difference people point to is the songs. The carols here are aguinaldos, and their words are about ordinary, worldly things rather than religious ones. The visits are usually spontaneous, arranged in the moment rather than months ahead, and a group can set out again and again across the season.

Players and instruments

Everyone who sings or plays is a parrandero, and a group's musical director often leads. Voices carry the aguinaldos, joined by instruments that carry weight in Puerto Rican music: the cuatro, maracas, guiro, palitos, tambora, guitar and trumpet, plus panderos in three sizes, the requinto, the seguidor and the tumbador. A few minutes may be given to bombas, short improvised verses in the troubadour manner, made up on the spot to lift the mood. The leader gives the signal for the music to begin, which is the moment the household wakes.

Food and drink

Feeding the visitors is part of the custom, and homes keep supplies in for the season. Pasteles, a dish compared to tamales, come out along with arroz con dulce, a sweet rice pudding, and coquito, a drink that is passed around. Play and eating take turns: some parranderos sit down while others keep the music alive. Later, when the group has grown large, the night may close with asopao de pollo, a chicken soup, served either at a house that agreed in advance to make it or at a stop chosen because there will be enough for everyone.

Names for the group

Two terms travel with the custom. The people who gather for a parranda are a trulla, sometimes called a trulla navideña. Singers, players and anyone else who joins in along the route all belong to it. The surprise call itself has a playful name, asalto navideño, which literally means Christmas assault, used for the moment a group arrives at a house whose people have already gone to bed and starts to sing. As the night goes on the trulla grows, since the households that are visited often take up their own instruments and come along.

In song and screen

The parranda has been carried into recorded music. Gilberto Santa Rosa, with Tony Vega, opens a Christmas song by saying that parrandas can be heard everywhere. La Sonora Ponceña, from Ponce, begins a 1971 aguinaldo with a line about the parranda of the Antillean people. A 2002 plena places the custom beside Santa Claus, and an album by Héctor Lavoe, Yomo Toro and Daniel Santos invites listeners to enjoy, dance and go on parrandas. A Christmas episode of the series Elena of Avalor has the princess lead her city's people on one. Customs like parang and wassailing are listed alongside it.

How Parranda is kept

A group of the householder's friends gathers with instruments and reaches the target house after ten at night. They creep up to the porch. Their leader, usually the musical director, gives the signal, and the playing and singing begin, waking the family, who switch on the lights and invite them inside. Refreshments and Christmas foods are served; people eat, some dance, and the players take turns so that the music never stops. After an hour or two the hosts take up their own instruments and join the group, which walks on to the next house.

When and where

Parrandas belong to the Christmas season, running through December and sometimes into the first days of January. They start late in the evening and can last until the small hours or until dawn. A group may go out repeatedly during the season.

The custom is kept in Puerto Rico, and the holiday is observed by Puerto Ricans and Dominicans. It works best among friends and extended family who live close together, because the whole night depends on moving from one nearby house to the next, gathering people as it goes.

What Parranda means

The night is about welcome. A household woken by music is being chosen, not disturbed, and the singers expect the door to open and the lights to come on. People who take part describe it as a night that binds neighbours and relatives together in one event. The ending carries its own meaning: the group plans its route so that the homes with the most food come last.

Days Parranda is marked

Questions people ask about Parranda

See also

PlenaPuerto Rican folk songs and dance sharing community news with rhythmic frame drumsLion danceA dynamic ritual dance featuring costumed lions, drums and martial acrobaticsBombaA Puerto Rican music and dance tradition where the drummer follows the dancer in a rhythmic dialogue.HakaA ceremonial dance of the Māori people in New Zealand, performed with vigorous movement and chant for welcome, mourning,

Good reading and sources

• Parranda on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.