Events Calendar
January 1st: New Years Day - Nationwide. A national holiday, and a day of celebrations, parties and festivals. Many people also use this day to sleep off the partying from the night before!
January 6th: Three Kings Day - Nationwide. This is the day that gifts are traditionally exchanged as it represents the day that the Three Kings arrived at the Nativity to give their gifts to the baby Jesus. This is also a day when Rosca de los Reyes (King's Loaf) is served, a round, doughnut-like cake, which contains a little plastic doll somewhere inside. By tradition, if you are served the slice that contains the doll, you must host a party on Dia de la Candelaria in February. Many parties now include several dolls within the cake so that the party cost can be shared between those lucky winners in a joint effort.
February 2nd: Candelaria Day - Nationwide. This day is celebrated nationally with dance, food and music as well as other local festivities to mark the passing of winter. Those who were served the plastic doll in their Three Kings Loaf on January 6th will host a party on this day serving Tamales.
February 3rd-8th: Carnival - Nationwide. Celebrations begin five days before Ash Wednesday and are marked by parades, parties and dancing in the streets. Some of the most famous and festive celebrations are held in the port towns of Veracruz, Campeche, Mazatlan and Ensenada, while carnaval in San Juan Chamula, Chiapas is one of the most important indigenous celebrations in Mexico, involving purification ceremonies and ethnic dances that depict Mayan legends.
February 5th: Constitution Day - Nationwide. Marks the day Mexico drew up and enacted its new Constitution as a free nation. Public and Bank holiday.
March or April (Varies year to year): Semana Santa - From Ash Wednesday (beginning of Lent) through the week after Easter Sunday is the busiest time at all of Mexico's key attractions. Everywhere you go there will be processions, festivals, parties, fireworks and more! Many Mexicans take their holiday during this period, so in smaller towns and cities, you can expect more businesses (shops, nightclubs, etc) to be closed. Hotels, restaurants and other core tourist services will operate as normal. Also, one should be prepared for high noise levels whereever you travel. In the Copper Canyon, the Raramuri Indians will be beating their drums and dancing non-stop from Wednesday through Saturday morning when Judas is sacrificed.
If you want to travel to Mexico during the Easter Period - BOOK EARLY (6 months or more in advance is recommended).
The Ultra Marathon where the Raramuri Indians race in Urique is done on varying dates each year around the first of March. For more information about the upcoming year's race, please visit this website: Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon
April 30th: Children's Day - Nationwide. Not a technical holiday, but it is traditional to give children small presents on this day and many towns have parades.
May 1st: Labor Day - Nationwide. Businesses and offices close, nationwide. The principal trade Unions march on the main square (the Zocalo) in Mexico City (D.F.).
May 10th: Mother's Day - Nationwide. Although this is not a technical holiday, everyone takes at least a half day off when they can to take their mother out and celebrate this event. Some cities change the date slightly in order to take advantage of a long weekend.
June (Date varies year to year): Corpus Christi - Celebrated nationally, this event honors the body of Christ, and is marked with processions, celebrations, music food and dancing.
July (usually the entire month): Adventure Tourism Festival - Athletes compete for cash prizes at this festival that takes place all over Chihuahua state, featuring everything from marathons and triathlons to mountain biking and sand-boarding.
July (Dates vary year to year): Villista Cavalcade - Chihuahua will host its annual weeklong cavalcade from the city of Chihuahua to Hidalgo del Parral where Mexican Revolutionary leader Pancho Villa was assassinated on July 20, 1923. The rides covers more than 136 miles of scenic Chihuahua countryside. While the first cavalcade took place in 1996 with less than five hundred riders, more than 1,300 riders participate today. Entire families are welcome to participate.
July (Dates vary year to year): La Onza International Bike Race - The delightful, alpine village of Creel, Chihuahua hosts this annual race with several different courses for bicycle enthusiasts to take part in.
August 12th-15th: Mushroom Fair of San Juanito - In the Copper Canyon of Chihuahua state, this little town just 30 minutes north of Creel hosts this annual mushroom lovers hunt. Learn more about the various types of mushrooms and their diverse contributions to the culinary world through workshops, demonstrations and taste-testing. This event also features cooking contests and cultural events.
August 15th: Ascension Day - The Virgin Guadalupe is extremely important and revered by Mexican Catholics - her image, almost without exception next to a crucifix, is everywhere in Mexico. Special masses and processions take place nationwide, with a huge mass at the Basilica de Guadalupe (where the original image is hosted) in Mexico City. Many smaller towns do not celebrate this day on such a large scale.
September 15th-16th: Independence Day - Nationwide. Indisputably Mexico's most important and most revered National Holiday is Independence Day - Dia de la Patria. During this time, Fiestas Patrias take place nationwide. From the evening of September 15th, parties begin. At 11pm, the President of the Republic shouts the Cry (El Grito) of "Viva Mexico" from the balcony of the National Palace - an event televised and broadcast on radio to every corner of the nation, as Mexicans cry back with "Viva!" in an emotion-packed traditional annual ritual.
October 12th: Columbus Day - Nationwide. The day that commemorates Columbus' founding of the "new world", an event that subsequently sparked the journeys of hundreds of European explorers traveling west to discover that you really don't fall off the edge, and to inhabit the lands we now call The Americas.
November 1st-2nd: Day of the Dead - Nationwide. This event encompasses 2 days: All Saint's Day, and All Souls day. The former honors all saints and people who died as children and the latter honor the souls of those who died in adulthood. If you are in Mexico around this time, expect to see sugar-candy skulls, skeletons and Pan de Muerto (Bread of the Dead) advertised at shops and supermarkets - they are a traditional sight in Mexico at this time of year. Relatives of those who died gather at cemeteries throughout Mexico, bringing bread, fruit and their decorated sugar skulls, along with candles and the favorite food of the people they are remembering to celebrate the lives of those passed on, and remember their loved loves. The mood is far from morbid: it is lively, upbeat - almost like an Irish wake - and is intended to be a celebration of life, not a morbid occasion.
November 20th: Revolution Day - Nationwide. A major national holiday, which commemorates the end of the revolution in 1910. The day is marked with some parties, a big parade in Mexico City's Zocalo, speeches and a few official ceremonies. Parades are features in smaller towns as well and all school children will take part in them.
December 12th: Guadalupe Day - Not a public holiday, but probably Mexico's biggest religious event of the year. The day is marked by Mass and celebrations in honor of Guadalupe, Mexico's Patron Saint.
December 16th-24th: Christmas Posadas - Nationwide. Nine days leading up to Christmas Day. Posadas are parties that take place throughout the nine days before Christmas Day. Posadas re-enact Mary & Joseph's search for an inn, with local communities arranging for one of the local houses to be the inn that accepts - while local children travel from door-to-door in traditional costume, holding candles and singing a traditional carol, requesting a place to stay. Eventually they get to the arranged house, are invited in with song and a party ensues therein.
December 25th: Christmas - The Christmas period starts around the 12th and continues right through until early in the New Year on January 6th - Kings Day. Hotels, resorts, and key attractions become totally booked up (so do busses, flights and trains). Parties, celebrations and processions are evident everywhere you go. Mexicans love to party and Christmas is a big event here. If you want to spend a Christmas at one of Mexico's tourist areas - Reserve well in advance (6 months or more is recommended).
December 31st: New Year's Eve - Mexico City's Zocalo square (second largest square in the world after Red Square in Moscow) becomes just as lively on New Year's Eve as it does on Independence Day. Don't wear your good clothes - it is traditional to fill empty egg shells with confetti and colorful liquids that will stain your clothes and may not come out. The liquid is usually a variety of food coloring. Parties are vibrant and go on forever. The mood is of celebration and hope for the new year ahead.
HOLIDAYS During the following dates, governmental offices, private companies and banks are likely to be closed for business:
· February 5. Constitution Day
· March 21. Benito Juarez Anniversary
· End of March, early April. Easter
· May 1. Work Day
· May 5. Puebla’s Battle Anniversary
· May 10. Mother’s Day
· September 16. Independence Day
· October 12. Race Day (Día de la Raza)
· November 2. Day of the Death
· November 20. Revolution’s Day
· December 12. Virgin of Guadalupe’s Day
· December 25. Christmas
· January 1. New year’s day
