Public holidays in Mexico

In Mexico, public holidays are legislated at the national, state and municipal levels. These holidays are celebrated nationwide. Additionally, each city, state and/or region may have its own holidays.

Holidays

See also: Patriotic holidays in Mexico

In Mexico there are 3 major kinds of holidays:

• Statutory holiday: Holidays observed nationwide. Employees are entitled to a day off with regular pay and schools (public and private) are closed.
• Civic holiday: These holidays are observed nationwide, but employees are not entitled to a day off with pay.
• Festivities: These are traditional holidays to honor religious events, such as Carnival, Holy Week, Easter, etc. or public celebrations, such as Mother's day, Father's day, Valentine's Day, etc.

The holiday Dia de la Independencia or Aniversario de la Independencia (Sep. 16) commemorates Mexico's independence from Spain. Parades are held and many schools are closed.

Statutory holidays

Statutory holidays (referred as "feriados" or "días de asueto" in Mexico) are legislated through the federal government and ruled by the Federal Labor Law (Ley Federal del Trabajo).^[1] Most workers, public and private, are entitled to take the day off with regular pay. However, some employers may require employees to work on such a holiday, but the employee must be paid:

• His/Her regular salary for the statutory holiday,
• 2 times (known as "double time") the regular pay for their time worked that day

When a statutory holiday falls on a Sunday, Monday is considered a statutory holiday; if a statutory holiday falls on Saturday, Friday will be considered a statutory holiday.

Date	English name	Spanish name	Remarks
January 1	New Year's Day	Año Nuevo	First day of the year.
February 5	Constitution Day	Día de la Constitución	Celebrates the Promulgation of the 1857 and 1917 Constitutions (See also Patriotic holidays in Mexico). Observance: First Monday of February.
March 21	Benito Juárez's birthday	Natalicio de Benito Juárez	Commemorates President Benito Juárez's birthday on March 21, 1806 (See also Patriotic holidays in Mexico). Observance: Third Monday of March
May 1	Labor Day	Día del Trabajo	Commemorates the Mexican workers' union movements (See also Patriotic holidays in Mexico).
September 16	Independence Day	Día de la Independencia	Commemorates the start of the Independence War by Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in 1810 (See also Patriotic holidays in Mexico).
November 20	Revolution Day	Día de la Revolución	Commemorates the start of the Mexican Revolution by Francisco I. Madero in 1910 (See also Patriotic holidays in Mexico). Observance: Third Monday of November.
December 25	Change of Federal Government	Transmisión del Poder Ejecutivo Federal	Every six years, when a new President is sworn in office. Next observance: December 1, 2012.
December 25	Christmas	Navidad	Christmas celebration; secular and religious holiday.

In addition to these dates, election days designated by federal and local electoral laws are also statutory holidays.

Civic holidays

Date	English Name	Spanish Name	Remarks
February 19	Army's Day	Día del Ejército	Celebrates the Mexican Army on the Loyalty Day ("Día de la Lealtad"), when President Madero was escorted by the Cadets of the Militar College to the National Palace.
February 24	Flag Day	Día de la Bandera	Celebrates the current Flag of Mexico and honors the previous ones. Flag Day was implemented by President Lázaro Cárdenas in 1937.
March 18	Anniversary of the Oil Expropriation	Aniversario de la Expropiación petrolera	Celebrates the Oil Expropriation by President Gral. Lázaro Cárdenas in 1938.
April 21	Heroic Defense of Veracruz	Heroica Defensa de Veracruz	Commemorates the defense against the United States occupation of Veracruz in 1914.
May 5	Fifth of May	Cinco de Mayo	Celebrates the victory of the Mexican Army, led by Gral. Ignacio Zaragoza against French forces in the city of Puebla, on May 5, 1862. Also widely celebrated in the United States. US "celebration" of this Mexican historical event is largely a result of promotions in the US by liquor, beer, and bars/taverns/clubs/restaurants since the 1980s. For many years Cinco de Mayo celebrations in the US promoted Cinco de Mayo as Mexican Independence Day which is actually September 16. Although Mexican citizens feel very proud of the meaning of Cinco de Mayo, it is not a national holiday in Mexico, but it is an official holiday in the State of Puebla where the mentioned battle took place.
May 8	Miguel Hidalgo's birthday	Natalicio de Miguel Hidalgo	Commemorates the birth in 1753 of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, the initiator of the Mexican Independence War.
June 1	Marine's Day	Día de la Marina	Celebrates the Mexican Navy.
September 13	"Boy Heroes" or "Heroic Cadets"	Día de los Niños Héroes	Celebrates the Battle of Chapultepec during the Mexican–American War of 1847.
September 15	Cry of Dolores	Grito de Dolores	Celebrates the Grito de Dolores, an event that marked the start of the independence war against Spain on the eve of September 16, 1810. It took place at a church chapel in Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato, led by a Creole Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. See also Fiestas Patrias (Mexico).
September 27	End of Independence War	Consumación de la Independencia	Celebrates the end of the Mexican Independence War on 1821, 11 years after Father Hidalgo started it.
September 30	Morelos' birthday	Natalicio de José Ma. Morelos y Pavón	Commemorates the birth in 1765 of Father José María Morelos y Pavón, one of the founding fathers of the Mexican nation.
October 12	Columbus Day	Descubrimiento de América	Commemorates the Discovery of the Americas in 1492 by the Italian navigator Christopher Columbus.

Festivities

Date	English Name	Spanish Name	Remarks
January 6	Epiphany	Día de los Santos Reyes	Celebrates the Biblical New Testament story of the arrival of the three wise men who each brought a gift to the Christ child. Traditionally, children receive toys, and people buy a pastry called rosca de reyes. Anyone who bites into the bread and finds a figurine of the Christ child must host a party for the Day of Candlemas (February 2). It is not a state holiday.
February 14	Valentine's Day	Día de San Valentín	Celebrates amorous unions. On this day, traditionally, men give chocolates, flowers, jewelry, dinner and serenade to their special women, as well as to their female friends. It is not a state holiday.
April 30	Children's Day	Día del Niño	Honors all the children. It is not a state holiday.
May 10	Mother's Day	Día de las Madres	Honors all the mothers throughout the country. It is not a state holiday.
May 15	Teacher's Day	Día del Maestro	Honors all the teachers throughout the country. It is not a state holiday.
May 23	Students' Day	Día del estudiante	Honors all the students throughout the country. It is not a state holiday.
Third Sunday of June	Father's Day	Día del Padre	Honors all the fathers throughout the country. It is not a state holiday.
November 1	All Saints' Day (Day of the Dead)	Día de Todos los Santos	Honors dead relatives and/or friends (who were less than 18 years of age and unmarried) with candles, food and flower offerings, altars, and pre-Hispanic and Christian rituals. It is not a state holiday.
November 2	All Souls' Day (Day of the Dead)	Día de los Fieles Difuntos	Honors dead relatives and/or friends (who were more than 18 years of age or married) with candles, food and flower offerings, altars, and pre-Hispanic and Christian rituals. It is not a state holiday.
December 12	Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe	Día de la Virgen de Guadalude	Celebrates the day that Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared on Tepeyac hill to the native Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin. It is not a state holiday.
December 16–24	Las Posadas	Las Posadas	Commemorates the Biblical New Testament story of Joseph and Mary's search for shelter in Bethlehem. Consists of candlelight processions as well as stops at various nativity scenes.
December 24	Christmas Eve	Nochebuena	Celebrates the eve of the nativity of Jesus, as both a secular and religious winter holiday. The traditional treats for this holiday are buñuelos, tamales and atole or champurrado. Sometimes they eat gelatina de colores (different flavors of Jell-O and a milk based Jell-O mixed together to make a colorful treat) Las Posadas are celebrated nine days before Nochebuena, usually accompanied by a piñata party for children and dance music for adults.
December 28	Day of the Innocents	Dia de los Santos Innocentes	On this day, people pull practical jokes on each other. It is equivalent to the U.S. version of April Fools' Day (April 1). People must not believe anything that other people say nor let them borrow any amount of money. If any person has fallen victim of the joke, the person pulling the joke will say ¡Inocente palomita...!, literally meaning 'Innocent little dove' (equivalent to saying April Fools!).
December 31	New Year's Eve	Año Nuevo Vìspera	Mexicans celebrate New Year's Eve or locally known as Año Nuevo, by downing a grape with each of the twelve chimes of the bell during the midnight countdown, while making a wish with each one. Mexican families decorate homes and parties, during New Year's, with colors such as red, to encourage an overall improvement of lifestyle and love, yellow to encourage blessings of improved employment conditions, green to improve financial circumstances and white to improved health. Mexican sweet bread is baked with a coin or charm hidden in the dough. When the bread is served, the recipient whose slice contains the coin or charm is believed to be blessed with good luck in the new year. Another tradition is making a list of all the bad or unhappy events from the current year; before midnight, this list is thrown into a fire, symbolizing the removal of negative energy from the new year.[1] At the same time, thanks is expressed for all the good things had during the year that is coming to its end so that they will continue to be had in the new year.[2] Mexicans celebrate by having a late-night dinner with their families, the traditional meal being turkey and mole, a tradition which has now spanned worldwide. Those who want to party generally go out afterwards, to local parties or night clubs. If you're in Mexico, you can still enjoy festivities in the street. In Mexico City there is a huge street festival on New Year's Eve; celebrations center around the Zocalo, the city's main square.[3] You can expect a lot of firecrackers, fireworks and sparklers. At midnight there is a lot of noise and everyone shouts: "Feliz año nuevo!" People embrace, make noise, set off firecrackers, and sing Will Take a Cup o' Kidness Yet Auld Lang Syne.

See also

• Flag flying days in Mexico

References

1. ^ "Ley Federal del Trabajo" (in Spanish) (PDF). January 3, 2007. http://www.uanl.mx/publicaciones/respyn/ix/2/contexto/LEY_DEL_TRABAJO.pdf. Retrieved 2008-08-04. 
2. ^ "Mexican customs for the New Year". Focus on Mexico. http://www.focusonmexico.com/Mexican_customs_for_the_New_Year.html. Retrieved 2010-12-31. 
3. ^ "New Year's Eve in Mexico - Año Nuevo Celebrations". Gomexico.about.com. 2010-12-23. http://gomexico.about.com/od/festivalsholidays/a/new_years_eve.htm. Retrieved 2010-12-31. 

External links

Holidays portal

• Secretaría del Trabajo y Previsión Social