Parranda Navideña, a Puerto Rican tradition, celebrated with a Long Island twist

In the middle of a Puerto Rican winter’s night, a door knock awakens drowsy homeowners. The dinging of pots and pans shatters the silence, and the visitors start singing holiday songs. After the performance, the residents invite the guests inside for food and drink; then, the entire party moves to the next house on the block.

The phenomenon, known as a “parranda,” is the Puerto Rican culture’s version of Christmas caroling, and Dorothy Santana, president and founder of Latina Moms Connect, has adapted it for Long Island.

“We call it ‘with a twist’ because we obviously don’t do it the traditional way: We don’t go in the middle of the night,” said Santana, who held the first such event in 2015.

This year’s “Parranda Navideña… with a Twist” kicked off in Brentwood on Saturday morning. Several dozen volunteers met at the Long Island Railroad station to register before heading to the Ross Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in the hamlet — the first of three stops on a day-long tour.

The event is a collaboration between Latina Moms Connect, a North Babylon nonprofit, and the Brentwood-based Puerto Rican Coalition for a Better Community. This year’s sponsors included Island Empanada;  Café Colao; Ronkonkoma-based radio station LaFiesta 98.5; Bay Shore-based Erik Matthews Plumbing & Heating and the Uniondale-based Law Offices of Dorian R. Glover, P.C.

Volunteers were asked to bring a $25 teen-friendly gift card, to be donated to teenagers in need. The ask was an attempt to fill a void Santana saw in the community-giving space.

“During the holidays, there’s toy drives happening all over,” she said. “Kids are getting toys and gifts and so on, and then the older siblings are like...‘What about me?’ ”

Over the years, Santana said the event has generated thousands of dollars in gift card donations. This year’s proceeds will be distributed by the Puerto Rican Coalition and New Hour, a Brentwood organization that supports currently- and formerly-incarcerated women and their families.

At the nursing home on Saturday, musicians and volunteers performed Spanish songs for a room full of older Long Islanders. Beside two guitarists, a smiling man bounced a fiberglass percussive instrument called a shekere with gloved hands.

The group then traversed the hallways of the nursing home to sing for residents still in their rooms. At the end of one hallway, volunteer Lucy Duchesne watched in awe as a grey-haired woman in a chiffon-like floral shirt danced.

Later, the group visited a Hauppauge law office and a residence in Bay Shore.

Duchesne, 79, who said she immigrated to the United States from Puerto Rico in the 1950s, remembers taking part in the tradition as a child.

“The whole family goes with you, and you go knocking on friends’ houses,” she said. “Before you know it, I mean, it’s a massive group following you.”

Duchesne, of Bay Shore, said the Long Island parranda offers an opportunity to introduce children here to the tradition.

Candido Crespo, president of the Puerto Rican Coalition, said each year’s event feels different. In some areas, he said, curious neighbors have come outside.

“They stay around, they want to celebrate with us,” said Crespo, 62, of Brentwood. “It’s something that a lot of people have not experienced.”

By Arielle Dollinger

arielle.dollinger@newsday.com@aridollinger

Arielle Dollinger joined Newsday as a staff reporter in 2022. Previously, she covered local and national news as a freelancer for The New York Times, Newsday and other outlets.