Christmas in Mexico

How Mexico celebrates Christmas

Christmas in Mexico is one of the longest festive seasons in the Catholic world. It runs from the feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe on 12 December to Candelaria on 2 February, with the nine nights of Las Posadas, the Christmas Eve dinner, Holy Innocents' Day, New Year's Eve and Día de Reyes along the way. Many of its customs, from the piñata to the posadas, were shaped in the 16th century, when Spanish friars adapted Christian festivals to win over Indigenous communities whose own midwinter celebrations honoured the sun god Huitzilopochtli.

The most important decoration is the nacimiento, the nativity scene, set up in homes, churches and public squares, usually by 12 December, and kept until 2 February. Mexican nacimientos are often elaborate, with Spanish moss on the ground and local figures such as nopal cacti, turkeys, tortilla makers, a rooster and even Lucifer alongside the Holy Family. The figure of the Infant Jesus, often much larger than the others, is added on Christmas Eve. Through December, amateur and professional groups also stage pastorelas, comic shepherds' plays about the journey to Bethlehem, in which a comic hermit appears and the Archangel Michael defeats the Devil.

12 December: the Virgin of Guadalupe

The season opens with Mexico's most important religious feast. A novena of prayer begins on 3 December, and on 12 December pilgrims from all over the country arrive at the Basilica of Guadalupe in the north of Mexico City, on foot, by bicycle and by every other means of transport. In the early hours of the feast, well-known singers perform Las Mañanitas, the traditional morning song, to the Virgin at a midnight concert in the basilica. The day is not a statutory holiday, but it is widely observed.

Las Posadas: 16 to 24 December

Las Posadas ("the inns" or "lodgings") are held on the nine evenings from 16 to 24 December. The nine nights are said to stand for the nine months of Mary's pregnancy, and each one re-enacts the journey of Mary and Joseph and their search for a room in Bethlehem. Their origin is traced to the Augustinian friars of Acolman, near Teotihuacán, who in the 1580s, with the authorisation of Pope Sixtus V, held nine Christmas Masses known as misas de aguinaldo.

A posada today may be a neighbourhood procession, a church event or a family party. Guests are given candles and sparklers and split into two groups. One group, the pilgrims, stands outside and asks for shelter in the sung verses of pedir posada; the "innkeepers" inside sing back refusals until, at the last verse, they recognise Mary and Joseph and throw open the door. A printed letanía helps everyone follow the words. Then come prayers, the piñata, hot ponche and aguinaldos, little bags of peanuts, sweets and biscuits. The ninth and last posada falls on Christmas Eve.

The seven-point piñata

The traditional Christmas piñata is a star with seven points, each representing one of the seven deadly sins: pride, greed, lust, wrath, gluttony, envy and sloth. The friars used it as a lesson in faith. Its bright colours and foil stand for temptation and the deceptions of the world, the blindfold for blind faith, and the stick for the strength of virtue that destroys sin. When the piñata breaks, the fruit, peanuts and sweets that pour out are the rewards of heaven. Acolman, where the custom is said to have begun in Mexico, still makes artisan piñatas and holds its Feria de la Posada y la Piñata each year from 16 to 24 December.

Nochebuena and the Misa de Gallo

Nochebuena, "the good night", 24 December, is the high point of the Mexican Christmas. After the last posada, many families attend the Misa de Gallo, the "Rooster's Mass" at midnight, named after the belief that a rooster announced the birth of Christ. The tradition of a late-night Christmas Mass in Mexico goes back to the Franciscan friar Pedro de Gante in the early years after the Spanish conquest.

The cena de Nochebuena, the Christmas Eve dinner, is eaten late, often after Mass. The classic dishes are bacalao a la vizcaína, salt cod in a Basque-style sauce, and romeritos, seepweed greens in mole with shrimp patties, a meatless dish thought to have joined the Christmas menu when 24 December was a day of abstinence from meat. Turkey, roast pork loin and tamales complete the table. The Infant Jesus is laid in the nativity scene, and younger family members play with sparklers.

The poinsettia: flor de nochebuena

The poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) is native to Mexico, where it is called flor de nochebuena, the Christmas Eve flower, a name traced to the Franciscan friars of the 16th century. The Aztecs grew it and called it cuetlaxóchitl, a Nahuatl name often translated as "the flower that withers". Its English name comes from Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first United States minister to independent Mexico, who in 1828 sent cuttings home to South Carolina and to a botanist in Philadelphia. Mexico marks a national day of the flor de nochebuena on 8 December, and the red plants fill homes, churches and streets throughout the season.

Christmas around Mexico

La Noche de Rábanos, Oaxaca

Every 23 December, the main square of Oaxaca city fills with sculptures carved from giant radishes: nativity scenes, saints, dancers, market scenes and fantastic creatures. The Noche de Rábanos (Night of the Radishes) grew from the habit of farmers and vendors carving radishes to make their stalls stand out at the Christmas market, and the contest was announced in 1897 by Oaxaca's municipal president, Francisco Vasconcelos. Entries compete in a traditional category, which must reflect Oaxacan culture, and a free category.

Traditional Mexican Christmas food

Romeritos were eaten in Aztec times with ahuautle, the eggs of a lake insect with a shrimp-like flavour; the version with dried-shrimp patties developed in the colonial period. Pozole is best known as the dish of the September Independence celebrations, but many families add it to the Christmas table.

Día de los Santos Inocentes and New Year's Eve

28 December, the Día de los Santos Inocentes, remembers the infants killed on King Herod's orders, and in Mexico it is the day for pranks, like April Fools' Day elsewhere. By tradition, anything lent on this day need not be returned; a 19th-century trick was to borrow something and send back a note: "Inocente palomita que te dejaste engañar, sabiendo que en este día nada se debe prestar" ("Innocent little dove who let yourself be fooled, knowing that on this day nothing should be lent"). Newspapers and websites still run joke stories.

On New Year's Eve, Nochevieja, families gather for another late dinner, often with leftover bacalao and romeritos, and at midnight eat twelve grapes, one for each chime of the clock and each month of the coming year, for good luck. Fireworks follow. For Mexicans sending wishes to family across the country and abroad, there are free cards, WhatsApp and Instagram status images, quote cards and ready-to-send wishes among these New Year cards and messages for Año Nuevo. New Year's Day, 1 January, is a statutory rest day.

Día de Reyes and Candelaria

Traditionally, presents in Mexico are brought not on Christmas Day but by the Reyes Magos, the Three Kings, on the night of 5 to 6 January. In some regions shoes are left by the door for the Kings to fill, and some families send their wishes up on a helium balloon. On 6 January, Día de Reyes, families cut the rosca de reyes, an oval or ring-shaped sweet bread decorated with candied fruit, served with atole or tamales. Baked inside are small figures of the Infant Jesus, recalling how the Holy Family hid him from King Herod.

Whoever finds a figure in their slice must provide tamales on 2 February, the Día de la Candelaria (Candlemas), the feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. On that day families dress the Infant Jesus from their nativity scene, sometimes in elaborate clothes, and take it to church to be blessed; candles are also blessed. The nacimiento is then packed away and the Christmas season is over.

Which days are public holidays?

Mexico's statutory rest days are set by Article 74 of the Ley Federal del Trabajo (Federal Labour Law). In the Christmas season only two are statutory: Christmas Day, 25 December, and New Year's Day, 1 January. The feast of Guadalupe on 12 December, Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, Día de Reyes and Candelaria are ordinary working days, although many employers close early on 24 and 31 December. Under Article 75, an employee who works on a statutory rest day must be paid double on top of the normal day's wage, in effect triple pay.

Mexican Christmas season dates 2026–27

Christmas in Mexico: frequently asked questions

Christmas in nearby countries